Rose Thorns and Needles
by yesiwritefanfiction
Summary: Dan's grandfather passed his flower shop down to Dan, who finally meets the tattoo artist next door.
1. Chapter 1

Dan wasn't what you'd call a typical 23 year old male.

Because typical 23 year old males, didn't have a flower shop joint greenhouse passed down to them from their grandfather after he had passed.

Nor were they still wearing a fringe in 2014.

When he was twenty-one, nearly twenty-two, and his family discovered that his grandfather wanted Dan to have the shop, he was a mess. He didn't know how to run his own business. Luckily, his grandfather's previous assistant manager, a lovely woman named Louise, remained there for Dan and taught him everything he needed to know.

When they met, he was frantic and stressed and constantly running his hand through his hair like he was going to rip it out and she promised him, with hands on his shoulders, that she wasn't going to leave and that everything would be okay.

And it was.

He was proud that he managed to run the shop well. It was a hole-in-the-wall sort of the shop and it suited his lifestyle.

When he was in Elementary school, he would spend the afternoons here. His grandfather would tell him about all the different types of flowers, the seasons they grew best in, and what their symbolic meaning was.

He was not partial to any particular flower. Not today, at least.

Dan had once asked his grandfather if he had a favorite flower, and asked a second time later, as he had forgotten the initial response. When Dan explained this, he said, "My favorite flower today is not what it was when you had last asked me."

Dan didn't quite understand at eleven, but now he could relate to the sentiment.

"Have you gotten a look at the man next door lately?"

"Huh?"

Dan was wrapping up a bouquet, preparing it to be put out on a stand for sale inside the shop. He looked up into her big, blue eyes as she pushed a lock of her long, blonde hair out of her face.

Louise always joined him in these small tasks of setting up the displays and things and they chatted as they did this. He really wasn't much of a talker, particularly first thing in the morning, but Louise's nice voice filled the silence like music.

Dan knew there was a tattoo and piercings shop next door. It hadn't always been there, or he would have remembered it as a child. It was also very out of place, as it was next to the flower shop of all things.

"The man next door," she repeated. "He's a tattoo artist. I'm not much into tattoos and things, but he's always been so handsome."

"Is he?"

Dan never had a chance to find out who ran the shop next door, but Louise had been here longer than he had and was just starting as his grandfather's assistant when the lot next door was leased out and turned into a tattoo shop.

Louise hummed. "He and your grandfather got on quite well actually. He'd pop in to say good morning sometimes."

"He sounds nice," Dan replied, not really putting much thought into it.

"He was sweet. After he'd noticed your grandfather's car wasn't always in the parking lot anymore, he came in to talk to me and I had to tell him what happened." Louise's voice grew impossibly softer than it already was and it caught Dan's attention. He looked up at her, noticing that she blinked rapidly, eyes shining. "It was dreadful. So he bought a flower and turned around and handed it to me."

"That's really sweet of him. What's his name?'

"Oh, silly me. That's important to know about a person, isn't it? His name is Phil."

"Phil?"

"I know, not quite what you'd expect from a tattoo artist, right? But his tattoos are really nice," she gushed. "I just wish he'd come in to say good morning like he used to."

Dan just hummed, as he adjusted a pretty Anemone amongst some Daisies. He then adjusted the ribbon around the plastic wrapping and looked it over, satisfied.

* * *

Truth be told, Phil really wanted to meet who was running the flower shop now. Louise had said it would be the old man's grandson and he'd been anxiously putting it off for months to just peak his head in and say good morning.

He had managed to run into the old man in the parking lot, and helped with a few things that he had dropped. The old man was sweet and incredibly gracious to Phil despite his profession and his appearance.

He wondered if his grandson would at all be the same. Louise had said his name was Dan. Well, it was short for Daniel, but he preferred Dan, she had added.

Phil had chuckled and picked out a set of pink flowers, with an orange and black spotted center and thick, dark leaves.

He bought and paid for them, but then said that they were for her and the shop.

"Phil, you're too sweet," she had said, accepting the flowers with a hug.

"It's the least I can do," Phil had replied, and he truthfully wished there was something more he could do for them.

* * *

"You want to go to get something for lunch?" Louise asked Dan after he had spent most of the morning in the greenhouse and sat down in the office.

He looked down at the dirt that had begun to build up beneath his finger nails and cringed as he considered what Louise had suggested.

"Erm, yeah that sounds nice," he looked up.

"Sub sandwiches?" She suggested with an eager smile.

"Sure," he agreed, catching her contagious smile like it was the flu.

Louise began to gather her things and Dan pulled on his black jacket which had been previously hanging on the back of the white, iron chair.

Dan got out a slip of paper from the printer against the wall as well as a thick, black marker and bent over the desk to quickly write, "out to lunch," in big letters. From the roll of tape he tore off a bit and stuck it to the top of the sheet of paper and carried it with him as he followed Louise out of the office, and passed the flower displays.

Louise carried the keys so that when they were outside she could lock up and he could attach the note to the glass door.

As Dan smoothed out the opaque slip of tape onto the glass, he heard a car door being shut. He turned around, intending to follow Louise, but he noticed a tall, black, haired man stepping up onto the pavement and heading towards the entrance to the tattoo and piercing shop.

"Hi, Phil," Louise called out to him in her sweet voice and waved.

"Hey," he called back. He seemed to hesitate as he paused on the pavement, then approached the two of them after his eyes slid over to take in the thin form of the man in black.

Dan shuffled awkwardly, and fidgeted with his hands in his jacket pockets, attempting to make himself unnoticeable and avoided looking directly at the man. At twenty-three he had never quite grown out of his painful awkwardness.

Phil hugged Louise and asked, "How is everything?"

"Everything is going really well. This is Dan," She gestured to Dan.

"Hey, I'm Phil," the man flashed a million dollar smile at him, and like Louise's smiles, it was infectious.

Dan grinned back, finally braving eye-contact, and said, "Hi."

He was actually taken by surprise. Phil wasn't exactly the sort of character he'd expect to have run a tattoo and piercings shop. He didn't have any visible tattoos, but did have a small piercing at the left side of his bottom lip as well as small gages in his ears.

But what caught his eye more was the green hooded sweatshirt he wore that really emphasized how broad his shoulders were and he couldn't deny that he was dying to know how they'd feel beneath his hands.

"Are you doing well?" Louise asked, filling in the gaps.

"Yeah, everything is just fine. I'm glad I've run into you. Been putting it off to check up on the shop since-," he cut himself short, glancing to Dan.

"Since you've taken over," he redeemed himself. He scanned Dan's face, hoping he hadn't made a mistake.

Dan was unsure of what to say, but flicked his eyes back and forth between Phil's, suddenly aware of how beautiful they were. He panicked, lost for words, and shoved his hands deeper in his pockets. He stared intently at the ground, as if it were a bare flower bed, and he was thinking of how to arrange some plants.

"Well, we're just off to lunch," Louise said, not lost on the exchange. "We'll catch you around?"

"Yeah, definitely. Good meeting you, Dan."

Dan hummed and scurried after Louise, glancing back for a moment, realizing that Phil was watching them go.

With a warm face, he turned his eyes forward again.

* * *

With their favorite sandwiches they sat in the small fast food restaurant.

The image of Phil was floating in his head as he listened to Louise speak.

He was much gentler than Dan had expected. But then again, he and his grandfather had apparently been friends. He was also considerate, he'd noticed.

And Dan was immensely attracted to him. He wasn't about to voice that though, especially when Louise asked, "Phil is nice, huh?"

He hummed, taking a bite of his sandwich, and trying not to smile.

Louise began to laugh once he'd gotten through his bite and a grin spread across his face.

He didn't need to say what was on his mind, for Louise just looked at him, knowing.

* * *

It was Valentine 's Day, and everyone knew that Howell's Arrangements had the best and Louise had prepared ahead of time with loads of different roses. They always had great business during this week, and it meant a great start to the year.

Phil still hadn't been around to say, "Hi," but he was hesitant after his awkward start with Dan. He hesitated outside, unbeknownst to Dan. Louise had already left for the day to be with her husband and daughter. Phil knew, because her silver car was gone.

He was on his way to head out of town for the evening to see his mother and decided he ought to get her some flowers. She was a sucker for sweet gestures like that. He supposed he took after her in that sense.

He'd left the shop, changed into something nicer, and then returned to take a look at the flowers Dan had.

As the day was already beginning to grow quite old, business was slower.

With a deep breathe, he pulled the shop door open, a jingle from the bell sounding and he stepped inside.

His feet landed on carpet designed with traction that lay over hard concrete as the smell of flowers filled his nose.

The shop was very quiet, fans blowing overhead, cooling his bare neck and playing with his hair slightly. He headed towards the front counter of the shop.

Where did Dan go?

The door to the greenhouse was open, and he could smell rich soil wafting through

He was considering turning right back around again and leaving, but it was too late when Dan stepped quickly through the heavy open door, wiping his hands on a pair of old-looking, blue jeans. He wore a black, faded t-shirt that had fine soil swiped across in some places.

"Hi," Dan began, smiling widely. The brilliance caught Phil off guard.

"Erm," Dan's stuttered as his smile faltered. He had gone a bit wide-eyed in surprise at finding Phil in his shop.

"Hey," Phil replied, hoping his tone sounded casual, especially when his heart swelled with adoration as he took in the streak of dirt across Dan's cheek.

"Oh, er, Happy Valentine's Day," Dan offered. "Are you looking for some flowers for someone?" He realized how slight Phil really was as he wasn't wearing a heavy, hooded sweatshirt, but a fitted knit sweater and nice black jeans.

Dan felt like a complete mess compared to how well put together Phil was.

"Well, sort of." Phil let out a slight cringe.

"Sort of?"

"They're for mom," he explained.

"Oh," Dan said, halfway relieved. Buying flowers for your mother on Valentine's Day probably meant that you did not have a significant other. Not that he was even interested in Phil, he scoffed inwardly. Hell, he didn't even know if Phil was attracted to guys. He said, "Does she have a favorite?"

"No idea." Phil replied, as he looked away in thought. He looked up again. "But she knows loads about them. Has a huge garden. I bet the two of you'd get on real well."

"Erm, well, are you looking for roses, or something different?"

"Not roses." Phil shook his head. "These flowers are going to my mom."

Dan chuckled, understanding. "Let's have a look and see what I've got prepared then."

He walked around to the other side of the counter and Phil couldn't help but let his eyes trail up Dan's legs as he took long strides. He nearly crashed into Dan when he finally stopped moving. He realized they were on another side of the shop.

"What sort of message are you trying to send?"

"Er," Phil hesitated, confused. "What do you mean?"

Dan was standing tall, looking at the top rack of flowers wrapped in plastic and secured with ribbon. Phil realized he was shorter than him as his eyes scanned Dan's long figure.

Dan looked at Phil, who flicked his eyes upwards just in time to not be caught staring.

He repeated his question to Phil.

"Er, I guess, "You're the best, mom."" He laughed awkwardly.

Dan looked away, peering at one arrangement that included, and put more of the attention on, a blue flower that grew spherically.

Phil scanned the rest of the rack, and spotted a pink, similar shaped flower and pointed to it saying, "This one's nice."

"Oh, that's perfect for a mom," Dan grinned and took the arrangement off the rack, the plastic rustling loudly.

"What's it called?" Phil asked, trying to distract himself from Dan's thin form as he had reached up. A bit of his belly had become visible, as well as the waistband of his black boxers.

"Carnation. Symbolic for love for a mother or a woman."

"Wait," Phil said as Dan turned. "They've got symbolic meanings?"

"No, they just look like vaginas," He replied flatly and it took a moment for Phil to realize that Dan was being sarcastic and he chuckled.

"I didn't mean to sound ignorant. That's kind of cool."

"You think it's cool?"

"Well, sort of." He said in a non-committal tone.

"Well, tattoos are cool. Sort of," Dan echoed Phil and they both grinned at each other.

Phil noticed the way Dan's eyes crinkled around the edges and the flex of his cheeks.

Dan was truly incredibly beautiful.

"So these ones then?" Dan asked, holding the bouquet of carnations carefully.

"Yeah, I like those ones."

Dan led the way back to the front of the shop where Phil paid for the carnations. Dan also gave him a package of flower food to put into some water when they were put into a vase.

"They won't wilt as quickly if you give them this," Dan spoke as if the flowers were a small pet.

"Thanks," Phil said as he gathered everything up. "Happy Valentines Day," he realized he neglected to return the wish to Dan.

"Erm, thanks," Dan frowned slightly. He'd be heading to an empty house in another half hour.

"No plans?" Phil asked, hoping he sounded casual and innocently curious.

"I'm going to give myself a Maltesers hangover and watch Netflix." Dan said with a deadpan expression, as he pressed a hand at the back of his own waist.

Phil chuckled at his painfully honest humor. "Sounds like you've got a big night then." He slipped his wallet into his pocket.

"Oh and, er, by the way. You've got a bit of dirt, just there," Phil reached up to scratch at his own cheek, mirrored to where the streak of soil actually was.

Dan reached up to wipe the dirt away from his cheek, wide-eyed, as Phil turned and left the shop, leaving him with a red face.


	2. Chapter 2

Dan drove his old, dark green car to the other side of town where he rented a small two-story house. He pulled into the left-open gate, and into the steep driveway.

Glad to be home, he shut the car off quickly and climbed out, grabbing his jacket on the way. He followed the crackled pathway to the porch, stepping over weeds pushing through the cracks. He stepped beneath the forest green edged, shingled roof that hung over the porch, and passed the old bench that was never sat on.

He spent so much time working at the shop, that he neglected his own yard. This resulted in overgrown grass, ivy climbing the walls, weeds growing in the cracks of the pavement up to his door, and peeling paint.

But he sort of liked it, in a way.

And he supposed that maybe, if he was being overly analytical, it reflected himself. Not well taken care of, just a bit run down, and somehow lonely looking on the corner of the street.

Once inside he flicked on the yellowing hall light to illuminate the small foyer, which led to a wooden staircase on his left, and opened up to the living room.

Beneath his leather boots the dark wood floor creaked as he hung his keychain up beside the door, and walked through the hall to the kitchen. The kitchen was small, but thanks to this, the living room(which served as more of an office because he spent more time on his computer here) was bigger.

He always had his dinner early, and tonight it was going to be… Well, his refrigerator and his cupboards were lacking supplies, he realized as he stood with the fridge door open, letting the cool air hit him.

He debated on where to order food from and the idea of pizza made his mouth water the most, so he ordered a small pizza for himself before he had even taken his shoes off.

He somehow found himself as a loner. He refused to admit he was lonely.

But this sort of lifestyle led to over thinking the smallest details when he met someone new.

He thought constantly of Phil, and his kindness, his thoughtfulness.

He laughed and practically smacked himself in the face when he thought of the way Phil pointed out the streak of dirt on his cheek. _I'm so stupid_

That night, in between these thoughts, he booted up his computer, ate his pizza, checked and answered a couple of e-mails(including one from his mother, telling Dan all about his Dad's cholesterol levels), ate three quarters of a bag of Maltesers, and watched half a season of American Horror Story.

But he kind of did that sort of thing nearly every night. Not that he was really complaining.

But he couldn't get Phil out of his mind.

In bed he tossed and turned, buried his warm face in his pillow, hid beneath his blankets and swore up and down to himself (out loud, in his eccentric ways) that he did not like Phil.

The next morning, Dan sat in the office, going through the business related e-mails, and ordered products for the shop( plastic wrap, ribbons, soil, pots, and flower specific nutrients to add to the soil as well as flower seeds).

Louise never arrived at the shop until eight AM, but Dan always got there at seven to open up.

It was nearly half passed seven when he got through all of the e-mails and orders he had to make.

He walked through the shop as well, straightening the flower stands, and with a frown, he also tossed out any arrangements that had wilted.

With an arm full, of fortunately the only few sets of flower that did die, he took them around to the side of the building to dump them into a dumpster. When he turned the sharp corner of the building he nearly smacked into another person, but caught himself and nearly lost his footing.

"Whoa," he mumbled, taking notice of the trash bags this person held in pale hands, that led to colorful tattooed arms and slight shoulders clad in a purple Pokémon t-shirt.

"Sorry," the familiar, yet embarrassed voice of Phil greeted him and he was blinded by a bright smile.

"Er, don't worry about it," Dan walked around Phil, heading back towards the open doorway to his shop.

Phil proceeded to quickly dump the trash in the garbage bin and then caught up to Dan before he could retreat amongst the flowers.

"Hey."

Dan hesitated outside the doorway, anxious to get inside as his insides were fluttering nervously. He slipped his fidgeting hands into his jeans pockets.

"I wanted to say thanks for your help. My mom loved the carnations."

"Sure, it's my job," he replied lamely. Something occurred to him. "You're here a bit early."

"Yeah, there's some chores that I needed to get done. Did you have a nice night?"

"Yeah, it was fine," he said, recalling the green glow of his alarm clock that read the numbers two-fifteen that he had glanced over at before he had finally fallen asleep. "What about you?'

"Yeah, dinner was nice."

Dan shuffled awkwardly as Louise wasn't around to smooth out his shyness, "Well…"

"Right," Phil smiled again, noticing Dan's discomfort. "Catch you later?"

"Sure."

Phil walked away and Dan ducked underneath the entranceway and went into the shop.

Louise was meant to be arriving soon, Dan thought as he looked at the time on the corner of his computer screen, absentmindedly.

He honestly didn't expect her to come in quite as early as the day before was Valentine's Day.

However, he couldn't really leave the front of the shop abandoned and work in the greenhouse without her here.

Luckily, the morning after Valentine's Day was still a pretty busy day as Dan had discounts for everything. You'd get a wide variety of customers, he soon learned when he started here. People from all ages and genders bought flowers and there was an old lady who frequently came in and for no apparent occasion, bought a bouquet of roses once a week.

She was sweet, and she called Dan, 'darling' every time she saw him.

Louise arrived at a quarter till nine, and they'd made a few sales already.

"Good morning," she sang to him when she walked into the office.

"Hi, Louise." He said to her from the uncomfortable chair.

"Dan, you look a bit tired, are you alright?"

"Hm? Yeah, just… tired," he let out a slight laugh.

"Did you have a bad night?"

"No, it was fine. Just had a bit of trouble sleeping is all."

"Someone been on your mind lately?"

He didn't answer but scowled in her direction and Louise giggled in response. His scowl was short-lived when he noticed she carried some drinks as well as a paper bag.

With an inhale through his nose he realized she had coffee.

Louise chuckled at the way his eyes lit up and looked at the food eagerly.

"Please tell me you're sharing," he practically whispered.

"Of course," she put a hand at his shoulder affectionately, laughing. "I'm not so selfish that I'd run and get treats without getting some for you as well."

He smiled sheepishly and Louise put the food on the heavy iron desk.

She put his coffee in front of him and sat in the spare chair. They dug into their breakfast happily.

Feeling a bit rejuvenated by his first few sips of coffee, Dan asked, "Did you have a nice night?"

"I did," she smiled cheerfully.

Louise had gotten him a breakfast apple pie with his caramel coffee and he was a happy camper.

"So, Phil is here sort of early, isn't he?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Well, we've been sort of neighbors for quite a while now, I started to recognize his car after a while." Louise chuckled, but then said, "How did you know?"

"I threw out a couple of dying bouquets and I ran into him outside. Almost literally too," he smiled, shaking his head at himself. He took a bite of his apple pie.

"What?" she laughed.

"Well, I turned the corner, you know, over by the dumpster and then he was right there with a couple of trash bags."

"Oh, and you know what else?"

Louise listened eagerly. Dan never talked quite this much, especially in the morning.

"Yesterday afternoon, after you'd gone home, he came in to get some flowers for his mom. And the whole time I had dirt on my cheek and right before he leaves, he finally said something." Dan gushed with embarrassment. "It was mortifying," he finished.

"He was getting flowers for his mom? Must be single. You should snatch him up."

Dan scoffed heavily. "Pfft, I don't like Phil."

Louise hummed disbelievingly.

"I don't."

"Whatever you say, Dan. Absolutely. You don't like Phil. Sure. I can see that. Totally."

"Shut up," he shook his head at her, but he was smiling and she laughed at him.

After they had sobered up, and because Louise had the almost magical ability of causing him to be more honest with her than he was with himself, he said, "Besides, he probably doesn't like guys… let alone me."

"He might not seem like he's into guys, but you never know."

Dan shrugged, and finished his last of his breakfast. He threw out his trash and then rose from the desk, pushing the chair out.

"I'm going to do some work in the greenhouse," he told Louise, who watched him go with a sigh.

He worked for most of the morning, giving each flower the appropriate nutrients, clipping off any dying blooms in order to make way for new ones, and simply being around them.

The plants tended to overgrow just a bit, but he sort of like it that way. Everything was green and full along the rows and shelves of flower pots, and the air was filled with a sweet, clean scent every time he finished watering.

He spent most of the morning in the greenhouse and when he returned to the office Louise had started on her lunch that she had brought with her in a small cooler.

He was hungry, but he didn't voice it. Instead, he left the office again to walk up and down the isles and straighten things out as well as take care of any customer that came in.

Louise worked with Dan from eight to four and after she left he would take care of the last of the managerial tasks for the day.

At five he was finally wrapped up after a good day of business. He looked over the plants one last time and locked everything up with the ring of keys.

He pulled his jacket tighter around him and stepped off the pavement and into the parking lot, making a mental note to sweep the area a bit the next morning.

"Hey!" he heard a voice calling.

Dan turned his head, and he saw Phil climbing out of his truck. "Wait up," Phil said.

Dan hesitated, considered continuing and then stopped.

"Erm, what's up, Phil?" he asked, sliding his hands into his pockets.

"Not much, erm," he began quickly, stopping to stand in front of Dan. "How are you?"

"Er, fine?"

 _Why are you talking to me?_

"You don't sound too sure of that."

Dan shot Phil his I'm-so-fucking-done face, earning himself a laugh, and Dan didn't want to admit it but his deep chuckle was like music and he suppressed a smile.

"I was wondering," Phil began as he put his own hands into his sweater pocket. "You know, if you're done for the day-, I mean, I don't have any more appointments, and-."

 _Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck._

"I dunno, if you're hungry I can, like, buy you food."

Even though he was totally starved, he just said, "I'm fine. I'm just headed home. But thanks," because his heart pounded and his mouth went dry and he definitely could not spend an uncertain amount of time alone with Phil.

"Oh," Phil frowned, but recovered and quickly said, "Maybe another time, then, huh? Take care, Dan."

"Thanks. You too." Guilt filled the words but Dan swallowed it like acid and his stomach turned.

Phil shot a smile at Dan, but it didn't reach his eyes, and he turned away quickly.

In a slight stupor, Dan turned away as well and headed towards his car. He waited for Phil to leave the parking lot, before making his own way home.


	3. Chapter 3

The shop wasn't open on Sunday or Monday, but he returned to open up at seven AM the following Tuesday. Louise arrived as she normally did at about eight AM.

They chatted like they normally did in between their normal chores and tasks of looking over the shop. But it was not a normal day.

Dan was lost in his thoughts as he adjusted a few displays, but the sound of the bell jingling, notifying him that someone had entered the shop, pulled him out of his reverie.

"Hi, welcome," he said as a knee-jerk reaction, looking over and realizing that Phil had stepped inside.

 _Oh god. Why does he have to be so attractive?_

He'd gone a bit wide-eyed, but returned to straightening the bouquets along the shelf he was looking over.

He realized Phil was approaching him and said lightly, "Do you need help with anything?"

"Erm, not really. I just sort of wanted to say good morning and see how you were."

"Well, good morning, Phil." Dan said but avoided his eye and continued to focus on the flowers.

"How are you, Dan?"

"I'm fine." Dan turned and left the aisle, but Phil followed. He began to look over the next row of flowers and was asked by Phil, "Aren't you going to ask how I am?"

Dan stopped, turned to him and just to humor him, asked, "How are you?"

He felt a bit defiant, looking Phil in the eye, who calmly gazed back with an easy smile. He couldn't help but feel a bit irritated by Phil's cool exterior.

The smallest of smirks turned the corner of his mouth up and he said, "I'm doing really well, Dan. Thanks."

"That's good."

"Yeah, so erm," Phil paused, and dropped his eyes. Dan frowned as the next few words were said. "I never really had the chance to say anything properly, but I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about your-."

"Don't worry about it." Dan turned away again, refocusing on the flowers.

"Sorry."

"It's fine. Just…," he trailed off, glanced at Phil and then continued situating the bouquets.

"Do you like it here?" Phil asked then, changing the subject. He felt slightly guilty in noticing the way Dan's face had fallen a few moments before. "Running the shop I mean?"

"I do," Dan answered, and a smile crept out of his monotone expression. He caught himself smiling and pressed his lips together.

"What do you like about it?"

"Erm, I dunno."

"No, really."

Dan ignored the question and the fact that if he were to be honest with himself, he was really enjoying talking with Phil, and said, "Are you going to buy some flowers or anything, Phil?"

"No, not today."

"Well," Dan hesitated and continued gently. "Nothing personal, Phil, but I'm kind of working. I can't just stand around chatting."

"If I bought one of your bouquets would we be able to continue this conversation?"

"The conversation would have to exclusively be about flowers."

"Weren't we already discussing flowers?"

"No. You asked what I like about running the flower shop. Very different."

"Uh-huh."

Dan shot him a look at his sarcastic tone, but then the tiniest smile turned up the corners of his mouth.

In defense, Phil sincerely said, "I just really enjoy chatting with you."

"Why? I'm… boring." Dan replied quietly, fiddling absentmindedly with a leaf that branched off of a flower, and realized he made a mistake when Phil said:

"You're not boring at all. I like you, Dan."

"You don't know me though. How can you like me?"

"But I want to know you."

"No, you don't."

"You can't decide what I want, Dan," Phil countered in a low, soft voice.

Dan looked up to find Phil staring intensely at him.

How did he suddenly find himself so close to Phil, speaking in quiet tones and within dangerous topic matter?

He stepped back and cleared his throat uncomfortably.

 _Fair enough._

A set of two women walked into the shop, saving Dan from this tense moment, and he greeted them with a "Welcome! Let me know if you need help with anything."

"Thank you," the blonde one of the two called back.

"Hey," he said quietly to Phil. "I really don't mean to be rude. But can we chat later?"

"Yeah," Phil said, his expression brightening. "Should I come around later?"

"Erm," he paused. "Yeah. Yeah, that should be okay."

"When do you get done here?"

"I should be done around five."

"Okay. I'll see you later then."

"Okay. Later," he agreed and Phil smiled. An eye crinkling, toothy, breathtaking smile and he turned and left the shop.

Dan watched him go and wondered what on earth he had just gotten himself into

* * *

The day grew older and before Dan knew it, Louise had left and he was wrapping things up so that he could head home.

He was a bit restless, expecting Phil to show up. He was also very tired, but he tidied things up and was grabbing his jacket and keys to lock everything up.

He pulled the heavy door shut to the greenhouse and locked it, keys jingling in the process. He did not see any sign of Phil, so he grabbed his things from the office and left the shop, locking the entrance door as well.

He walked over to his car, intending on unlocking it and climbing inside, but then he noticed Phil walking out of the tattoo shop. Phil waved to him and from across the lot Dan could see his bright smile.

For someone with tattoos and piercings he was awfully bubbly, Dan couldn't help but think. But he also grinned and looked down at the ground, waiting for Phil to approach him.

He walked over to meet Phil halfway across the lot.

"Hey," Phil said cheerfully.

"Hey," Dan's reply was much less enthusiastic, but he offered a small smile and took in Phil's open posture. His hands were out, as if offering a hug, but Dan's hands were in his jacket pockets and maybe Phil didn't even realize his hands were out. But then he held his arms closer to his body and Dan wasn't sure if he ought to have hugged Phil.

"So, erm," Phil began. "Maybe we can go and get something to eat?"

"Yeah, that's alright." Dan agreed quickly. He felt a bit awkward standing in the parking lot. "I'm starved," he added.

"Okay, we can take my truck, if that's okay, and then I'll bring back you round here to get your car afterwards."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Alright," Phil smiled and led the way over to his truck. Dan followed, climbing in when Phil held the passenger door open for him and shut it behind him as well.

When Phil climbed in and started the car, he said to Dan, "thank you for agreeing to see me," before he cruised out of the parking lot.

"It's no big deal," Dan said.

Phil looked over and Dan thought he wanted to say something more, but let it go and refocused on the road.

They settled into silence as Phil traveled closer to the nearby shops. He followed the curves and the dumps and dips of the road. Dan couldn't help but feel that interesting tickle in his stomach when Phil would cruise over the wavy road. He remembered the way his granddad would say, "Oh, I left my stomach back there," as they followed these same roads years ago.

He suddenly said to Phil, "Phil, Phil, wait!"

"What?" He looked over, his eyebrows shooting up in concern.

"We dropped my stomach back there!"

Phil beamed, laughing, thinking that Dan could not possibly be any more adorable. And Dan was just so glad that he managed to make Phil laugh because it was such a pleasant sound and he couldn't deny it.

They were both laughing as Phil pulled into a nearby shopping center where he knew of a café that sold really good burgers.

"Are burgers okay with you?" Phil asked.

"Yeah. Of course."

Phil glanced over at Dan, kind of wanting to take him some place nicer but did not want to overstep any boundaries, either.

"My granddad and I used to go here," Dan said, looking over the old diner, as Phil pulled into a parking space.

"Did you want to go some place else?" Phil asked before he shut the engine off.

"No, no." Dan said quickly. "This is fine."

Once they were inside they settled into a booth with red leather seats beside a window.

"This place hasn't changed a bit," Dan looked around, smiling reminiscently.

"I take it you haven't been in here for a while."

"No, not really."

"Why?"

"I dunno," Dan made a non-committal gesture. "Just didn't really have anyone to go with."

"Well, now you do."

"You're implying that we'll come here again in the future."

"Won't we though?"

Dan couldn't help but grin through a feigned serious look and said, "I'll get back to you on that."

* * *

After they had ordered their food and drinks and were eating, Phil paused to look over at Dan.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Phil began.

Dan had just taken a bite of a fry, and halted at Phil's words. Phil let out a small smile, and he quickly regained composure.

He looked back down at his plate of food, not meeting Phil's eye, but said, "Sure," and continued eating.

"I don't… scare you, do I?"

Dan scoffed, glancing up, and said, "No, of course not."

"No, really. Please take me seriously for a minute."

"Okay," Dan stopped eating and leaned back in his seat.

"I feel like I make you nervous and I don't want you to be. I really enjoy being around you."

"Phil, do you like guys?"

"What?"

"Do you like guys?"

"I erm-, well, yeah," Phil looked at Dan with furrowed eyebrows. "Isn't it, isn't it obvious? I mean, I've basically told you I like you. Wait-, do you _not_ like guys?" Phil's eyes widened. "Oh god, Dan. I'm sorry."

"No, no, no!" Dan started and he said quietly, "I do like guys."

"But… you don't like me?" Phil's voice became just as quiet and nervous as Dan's had.

"Well, I really like talking with you," Dan managed to avoid the specific question. He wasn't quite ready to admit to Phil just how much he really did like him and that he found him so incredibly attractive. He also had such a genuine and sincere personality and his momentary display of vulnerability toward Dan really surprised him because he felt as if they never had much of a proper, personal conversation before.

"So we can do this again, at least?"

"Yeah," Dan agreed, a smile spreading across his face.

"Okay," Phil smiled so brightly that Dan thought his heart was going to melt, because why would anyone be that happy to spend time with him?


	4. Chapter 4

"Can I call you this weekend or something?"

"I, er, don't know?"

Phil had walked Dan over to his car after they'd returned from the diner. Dan stood with the car door open, with one hand over the top of it, creating a barrier between the two of them.

"You know, just to talk and see how you're doing."

Dan hesitated, but said with slightly furrowed eyebrows, "If you really want to I guess. Hang on."

He sat down in the driver's seat of the car and leaned over to search for pen and paper in the glove compartment. He didn't find paper, but napkins and a pen. While sitting down he laid the napkin over the center of the wheel, carefully writing out his number for Phil. He shrugged as he quickly scrawled out the last two numbers and stood again.

"I just had this napkin," he said with a slight cringe, passing the material to Phil.

Phil looked down at the napkin, a smile spreading across his face then he looked up at Dan again. "It's fine. It's cool. I'll talk to you later then."

"Yeah," Dan agreed.

Phil shuffled his feet, looking as if he wanted to say something else.

"Have a good night," Dan added with a grin.

"Thanks. You too." Phil turned away then and walked the short distance to his truck, having parked it closer to Dan's car.

Dan got into his own car, pulled the seatbelt across himself and then started the engine. He glanced over at Phil's truck, seeing that he'd done the same and waved to Dan before pulling away.

Dan caught himself smiling so widely that he slumped forward, pressed his face to the steering wheel, and let out a groan.

* * *

"Hello?"

Dan fumbled with the phone, managing to press it between his shoulder and ear while he was trying to keep spaghetti sauce from burning.

"Hey, its Phil," came the deep, yet bright tone of the man he'd just moments before been wondering about.

"Oh, hi," he said distractedly, turning down the flame on the stove.

"How are you doing?"

"Just fine," he replied, as he reached for the ladle to stir the sauce.

"What have you been up to?"

"You're a curious fellow aren't you?"

Phil laughed, and said, "Always."

"I'm just cooking spaghetti right now," he replied, smiling as he moved the phone from one ear to the other.

"That sounds good."

"Yes it does, but right now I'm trying to save the sauce."

"Uh-oh."

"Yeah."

"You don't cook a lot?"

"Well, I do. But I got sidetracked." Dan checked the noodles, which seemed as if they were nearly done.

"Oh, really?" Phil's voice lowered suggestively.

Dan's heart rate jumped and the ladle he was holding clattered to the stove, causing sauce to splash into small droplets across the off-white surface.

"Phil!"

He heard Phil's laughter as he reached for a hand towel to quickly wipe up the red liquid. Dan became aware of the heat rising in his cheeks and pursed his lips. _Was he that worked up about a flirty comment?_

"Is everything okay?" Phil continued to laugh.

"Yeah, of course." Dan stirred the sauce, scooped a bit of into his ladle, and tasted it, deciding it was done.

He shut the stove off, and put the ladle aside.

"Really? You seemed a bit flustered for a moment."

"Phil."

Phil's laughter rolled again, and Dan fought a smile.

* * *

"So, we've been talking for quite a while, Phil. I think I'm going to call it a night," Dan said as he looked at the leftovers he needed to put away still.

"Oh," Phil's voice grew quiet. "Okay."

"So, I'll talk to you later then."

"Yeah, definitely!" Phil agreed, quickly returning to his cheerful, more enthusiastic voice.

"Have a good night, Phil."

"You too, Dan. Goodnight."

Dan hesitated and then hung up. He took the last bite of his spaghetti, his fork scraping against the bowl. He got up from the table, his sigh drowned out by the squeak of his chair against the tile. He quickly cleaned everything up and went upstairs to settle in for the night. He showered and got into his pajamas, feeling the sleepy droop of his eyelids.

He climbed into bed and although he was tired, sleep escaped him as he wandered in and out of thoughts of Phil. He let the television run, and blinked at the screen until his eyes burned and he couldn't hold them open anymore.

* * *

"Good morning, Dan," Louise said to Dan when she walked into the office on Tuesday. "I brought you some coffee."

"Thanks," he smiled at her.

That morning he'd managed to wake up with enough to eat breakfast before leaving, but only because he didn't fall back to sleep after waking up before his alarm went off.

"Have you had a good weekend?"

"Yeah." Dan smiled again, a certain blue eyed man in his thoughts.

"That's good. Anything interesting happen?"

"No," He replied quietly, but couldn't contain his grin.

"You're lying, Dan. Have you been talking to Phil? I noticed him come in to see you on Saturday."

"We actually went to this diner that night, and on Sunday we talked on the phone for a little while."

"So are you guys seeing each other then?" Louise looked at Dan expectantly, her eyes lit up in excitement.

"Well, he asked if we could go out to eat again sometime and I said yeah. So, I guess, unofficially? I dunno, we just kind of talked."

"But that's good," she grinned widely. "Are you happy about it?"

"I, er," Dan furrowed his eyebrows and pursed his lips for a moment. "I don't know. It feels a bit weird, you know? Someone… giving me attention."

"I give you attention."

"Yeah, but you're, like, my friend, you know. And Phil… he said he likes me."

"That's good!"

Dan continued to slouch in the chair, not meeting Louise's eye.

"He's a good guy."

"I know that. It's just weird. Phil likes _me._ Wants to spend time with _me_. And all I do is hang around flowers and eat junk food."

"That's not true at all, and you know it."

"Eh, I guess. I think last year I had a salad," Dan shrugged, and smirked at Louise as she began to laugh.

* * *

"Hey!" Phil called to Dan, who unfortunately was stilling working after five on Wednesday afternoon. The shop was closed for business, but he was running things out to the garbage before he went to work in the greenhouse.

Phil was locking up the tattoo shop just after five as Dan was heading back inside.

"Hi," Dan replied, flashing a smile at Phil.

"What are you up to?" Phil quickly locked the door to the tattoo shop and approached Dan.

"Oh, erm…"

 _Oh god, he's walking towards me._

"I just have to do some work in the greenhouse," Dan finally found his words when Phil was standing across from him, hands facing outwards in his pockets.

Dan furrowed his eyebrows as he noticed the mannerism, then let out a small smile.

"May I see the greenhouse?"

"Erm, sure. Yeah, that's fine."

Phil grinned widely and Dan gestured for him to follow. As he led the way through the green house he nervously adjusted his fringe. Once inside the greenhouse Dan pointed out the work station where he kept buckets, spray nozzles, soil, flower nutrients, and seeds, amongst other things.

"I've never been back here before."

"Really, I had no idea, Phil." Dan replied flatly and smirked as Phil began to smile.

"So, are you watering the flowers?"

"Yes, and I'm repotting a few other things."

"This place is pretty big. There must be a lot to do."

"Eh, not a lot really. I've already gotten quite a bit of it done today."

"May I help?"

"If you want to? I guess."

Dan talked him through measuring and mixing the right nutrients into buckets of water and then carrying the bucket along a row of different colored irises.

"So what's this one called anyways?" Phil asked as he gestured to the flower and took a petal between two fingers. He let the material slide between his fingers and appreciated the smoothness.

"These are irises."

"They're pretty."

Dan hummed in agreement, and looked over at Phil. Phil glanced back at him, so he looked away quickly and said, "I've got just a couple more rows to do if you'd like to help with those too?"

"Yeah," Phil grinned eagerly.

They combined a different set of nutrients into a new bucket of water and dispensed some out to another row of hydrangeas. They repeated the process for a row of daffodils.

Before Dan realized it, he was talking and joking freely with Phil. He looked up as he chuckled and quickly sobered up, drawing in a breath. Phil frowned as Dan seemed a bit more restrained after that.

When they were done feeding the plants he said, "Thanks for helping. It was nice."

"Thanks for letting me help," Phil replied with a wide smile.

"Man, you're seriously a bubbly guy. You're always so smiley," Dan blurted. "I mean," his eyes widened. "Oh god, that was rude. It's not bad. Like, I like your smile. I mean-, erm, I'm glad that you're smiling, because smiling is good. Yeah."

He glanced over at Phil, was still smiling at him. Phil said, "Smiling _is_ good."

"Yeah."

"You make me smile."

"Phil," Dan shot him a look and tried desperately to suppress a grin and the blush that began to warm his neck.

"Okay, I'll stop."

"Please."

But Dan began to grin and he stared at the ground in an attempt to hide it.

"Hey, do you have a favorite flower? Today, anyways?"

Dan's eyebrows rose in surprise and his expression evened out. _Did Phil really remember that conversation?_

"Hm," Dan thought for a moment. "I think a gerbera daisy."

"Gerbera daisy?" Dan nodded. "Why that one?"

"They symbolize cheerfulness. And… you're very cheerful. You reminded me of it."

"That's sweet."

"Yeah," Dan trailed off.

"So, er," Phil shuffled his feet for a moment. "Do you wanna go and get something to eat with me?"

"Yeah, that sounds good."

* * *

"Would you ever get a tattoo?" Phil asked Dan as they ate. They each had a plate with a burger and fries on it and a soda off to the side.

"I don't know. Do they hurt a lot?"

"They're not too bad, really."

"Well, I can't imagine they're really painful if people continuously go and get more done," Dan reasoned.

"Yeah," Phil said and pulled up his sleeves. "The ones on my arm didn't hurt much at all. There are just certain places that are more sensitive."

"Do piercings hurt? I've always kind of liked gauges."

"They hurt for, like, a second. But if you want to get gauges you'd have to stretch them over time."

"Well, I wouldn't want to get very big gauges anyways. Those are kind of gross."

"Yeah," Phil said lightly in agreement.

After a moment Phil asked, "If you ever decided you wanted a tattoo, would you let me do it for you?"

"Oh, I don't know," Dan looked away thoughtfully. "That's, like, a lot to commit to, you know, having something on my body for all my life."

"Well, that's the same with leaving a big hole in your earlobe." Phil said with a smile.

"Yeah, that's true," Dan agreed. "I'm sure if I ever decide I want one, you'll be the first to know."

"You mean a tattoo or a piercing?"

"Both."

* * *

"Hey Dan, do you do any landscaping?"

"Not usually. I'm a florist, not a gardener."

"Well, if I said that I had a gardening job to be done, would you be up for it?"

"I dunno. Maybe." Dan shrugged as he stretched himself out across the couch in his living room being careful to keep the phone to his ear. "What exactly are you asking me?"

"Okay, I have this flower bed in my front yard that's just been dirt for the longest time and I was hoping you'd plant some flowers for me."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, I could pay you or something if-."

"No. No, I wouldn't want you to pay me."

"Are you sure? Because I know you do a lot of work already."

"Yeah, of course. Besides, I didn't exactly agree just yet. Don't get ahead of yourself."

"Oh, but would you, Dan?"

"I dunno," Dan drawled teasingly. "What's in it for me?"

"Well, I'll definitely help. I mean, I really just need some help and the right supplies. And you make, like, the best arrangements though and I bet you'd make the prettiest flower bed. And we can have lunch together and stuff. What do you say?"

"You know what, why don't you show me what I've got to work with next weekend and I'll see what I can do."

"Really? Thank you so much, Dan! Okay, well I think I'll let you go for the night. It's getting a bit late. I'll see you tomorrow, is that okay?"

"Yeah. Goodnight, Phil."

"Goodnight, Dan!"

Dan hung up, sat up from the couch and put the phone on the coffee table.

"What am I getting myself into?" Dan groaned. He stood and went to the kitchen to do a bit of tidying before going upstairs for the night.

He and Phil had developed a schedule of talking on the phone each night, unless they'd gone to get dinner together, over the passed week. Phil often did most of the talking, while Dan hummed and asked a few questions. He was learning quite a bit more about him, about his family, his friends and clients, and his first tattoos and piercings.

" _I got my lip and eyebrow pierced when I was still in high school,"_ Phil had said that night on the phone.

"They ended up closing up because I didn't know how to care of them and I didn't get them professionally done. But when I turned eighteen I got them done at a tattoo and piercing shop and I decided I wanted to be a tattoo artist."

When Dan had asked what exactly it was that appealed to him about it he said, "The art. A lot of is just really beautiful and sometimes people make their tattoos really meaningful. And I'd always liked drawing, so I started designing my own tattoos. And then I drew up my own that I wanted done and got it done. I like my own tattoos, I like everyone else's, and I like designing them."

"That's really cool. So where did you get your first tattoo? Is it on your arm with the other ones?"

"Well, it's on my back. My arms are two whole sleeve designs that I came up with. The one on my back is a lot different. I did design that one though."

"Will you show it to me?"

"Oh," Phil began, surprise filling his tone.

"I mean, only if you want to," Dan had said quickly.

"No, I'll show it to you," Phil replied, and Dan could hear the smile in his voice.

"Okay," he said with a grin. "Cool."


	5. Chapter 6

I lost chapter five, but in that chapter Phil got dan's help to fill the planters in his front yard with flowers

* * *

The following Tuesday at Howell's Arrangements was rather busy as Dan had several centerpiece arrangements to make for a wedding. Fillings orders such as these was not at all unusual or difficult, but it meant that Louise was left to watch the shop while he made the delivery. He completed the delivery to the church the wedding was being held at and assembled the arrangements. Once he had finished, the wedding planner had given him his earnings and he returned to the shop.

"How did it go?" Louise asked once he arrived.

"Good," he said, passing the register to go into the office and record the order. "Did we have good business while I was gone?"

"Some, yeah," Louise answered. "And, er…"

"What?" Dan smiled nervously.

"Phil came in. He says hi."

"Oh," Dan turned to the computer to open an e-mail he had read already to avoid the look Louise was giving him.

"Dan?"

"What?"

"Is there something I ought to know?"

"I helped Phil at his house this weekend with planting some flowers," he explained and continued to stare unwaveringly at the computer. He glanced at Louise and then did a double take when he noticed her wide smile.

"What?"

"That's the cutest thing ever, Dan."

"It was just a favor, really."

"Either way, that's sweet. Did you have fun?'

"Yeah. I was a bit nervous, but," Dan shrugged and made an "eh," noise. "It was nice. Phil made sandwiches and loaned me a book of his."

"That's nice of him."

"Yeah," Dan hesitated and added in a smaller voice, "He has a nice place, too."

"Is there something wrong with that?"

"Well, I don't have a nice place like his. What if he wants to see my house?"

"You don't have to invite him to your place. But, I've seen your place before and its not at all bad. It's an old house, but that doesn't mean it isn't nice."

"I suppose that's true. But anyways," Dan stood. "I'd better water the plants."

He went into the greenhouse and his worries still trailed after him. However, as he tended to the roses, lilies, daisies, orchids, gardenias and many other flowers, his concerns slipped away.

He could focus solely as the varying shades of red, pink, blue, and white of the flowers contrasting against the deep green. He could focus on the measurements he was making as he stirred nutrients into the water and the sound it made as he distributed the water amongst the rose bushes.

It would take hours to give each section of flowers nutrients, so he only did the roses on Tuesdays, as the flowers really only needed the extra nutrients once a week.

Dan was wrapping up his end of the day reports after Louise had gone home when the entrance door jingled, letting him know someone walked in. He got up from the office chair and went out to the register. Phil stood there, handsome as ever in a plaid shirt and black jeans.

"Hi," Phil smiled.

"Hey, what's up?"

"I was just wondering if you'd like to run to get something to eat with me when you're done?"

"Sure, just give me a couple minutes, okay?"

"Okay, no problem. I'll be outside."

"Okay," Dan flashed a small smile and Phil left him to finish his reports.

* * *

"So the flowers are doing really well," Phil said as they sat in the same old diner.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah, they've totally grown a bunch already."

"That's good."

"Yeah, you should come have a look at them."

Dan sipped from his soda, conversation coming to a halt, before Phil said, "To be completely honest, I was trying to find an excuse to invite you over again."

Phil paused as what he said ran through his mind again. He said, "I mean, I really did want to fill that space and I couldn't have done it without your help."

With a smile Dan said, "Well, I'd love to see them." After a moment, he added, "And you really don't need an excuse, Phil."

"I don't? I mean-, er, so how's about this weekend? On Sunday you can come over and we can have dinner and watch a couple of movies?"

Dan smiled widely. "Sounds fun. I'd love to."

"Great."

"So, I finished the book you gave me," Dan said. "I'll bring it around on Sunday."

"Oh, did you like it?" Phil asked him, excited to know his thoughts about it.

"Yeah."

They discussed the book, amongst other things, over the remainder of their meal at the diner.

* * *

It wasn't even like a date, right? So why then, did Dan fuss over his outfit so much? He found his best jeans and favorite sweater that looked quite nice on him, if he did say so himself. He also put on a pair of new shoes that he convinced himself he'd find a reason to wear.

Around six when he was restlessly double checking that he had everything he needed, including the book he was going to return to Phil, the phone rang.

"Hey," he answered as he had noticed the caller ID said Phil's name.

"You're coming right?"

"Yes, I'm on my way."

"Okay, awesome. See you soon!"

"See you soon."

Dan flicked lights off as he headed out the door and locked it behind him. He climbed into his car and started the engine to begin the journey to Phil's home.

As he drove closer, his nerves set in.

What if he had nothing to say? What if he talked too much, or said something weird? The more he worried, the more tense he became.

He tried to convince himself that nothing would happen. Truly, he knew it would be, but in the back of his mind he kept coming up with horrifyingly embarrassing situations.

Despite this, he was eagerly knocking on Phil's door twenty minutes later.

Faintly, he heard Phil call, "Come in!"

He furrowed his eyebrows, but went ahead and pushed the door open to step inside even though he felt awkward about it.

He followed the sound of Phil's cooking to the kitchen and stopped underneath the archway. He said, "You shouldn't do that, you know."

"Do what?" Phil asked, looking up from the wok that he was using to cook what looked like a stir-fry.

"Just invite anyone in."

"Why not?"

"I could've been a serial killer."

"I was expecting you. And besides, would an unlocked door have stopped a murderer anyway?"

"Well, like, maybe he's a polite murderer."

"Okay, whatever," Phil said and laughed quietly, "Polite murderer."

"Hey, I was just saying." Dan feigned offense to what Phil said.

"Uh-huh."

"Anyways," Dan said dramatically. "What are you cooking?"

"Chicken and vegetable stir-fry and rice."

"Smells wonderful."

"Thanks. I've also picked out a couple DVDs if that's okay. We can watch after we eat. Is that okay?"

"Of course."

They ate quickly and when they were done Phil suggested that Dan go ahead and sit down in the living room while he cleaned up. Dan did as suggested and went to sit on the black, velvet couch. He leaned forward and found one of the DVDs Phil had out. He reached for it and thought he'd put it in the DVD player for them, but when he went to change the input signal, the television began to emit loud static.

Frantically he turned the volume down as he muttered curse words. Phil was entering the room suddenly.

"Here," Phil took the remote from him and quickly fixed it.

"Sorry."

"No worries. Easy fix."

"Thanks."

"Do you want some popcorn?"

"Sure."

"Okay. And if you want you can like, take your shoes off or whatever if it makes you more comfortable."

"Okay. Thanks, Phil. And sorry again about the-," he gestured to the television, which was now running the previews on the DVD.

"Seriously, don't worry about it." Phil laughed, before he went back into the kitchen.

Despite Phil's reassurance he plopped back down onto the couch with a sigh, thinking that he ought to have just waited for Phil's help before he messed with his TV.

He could hear Phil operating the microwave and the increasing popping sounds of the popcorn and decided to go ahead and slip out of his shoes and set them aside. Phil rejoined him in the living room and had a big bowl of popcorn in his hands.

"Oh, that smells so good," Dan said vehemently as Phil turned off the lamp in the corner of the room.

"I know," Phil agreed. He moved to sit with the bowl just between them and hit play on the DVD menu with the remote.

Dan began to feel a bit awkward and supposed that maybe he was restless as he noticed his bouncing leg. He attempted to focus on the opening credits of the movie, willing himself to relax, but then a small piece of popcorn colliding with the side of his face pulled him out of his worries.

He looked over at Phil and said, "What are you, like, seven?"

"I just thought you might like some popcorn," Phil said casually, not meeting Dan's eye.

"Uh-huh," Dan reached for the popcorn that had landed on his sweater and popped it into his mouth before reaching for a few more pieces and letting his attention settle on the movie.

He'd never been quite so alone with Phil. Or maybe it felt that way because it was dark and the way they laughed, smiled and frowned together at the movie. The popcorn bowl was eventually emptied and moved to the coffee table. And maybe it was because he was growing sleepy and malleable that he agreed to watch Phil's second movie. And maybe it was for that same reason that he foolishly let his eyes slide shut when he thought that he needed to rest them from the flickering TV light.

* * *

During the second movie Phil heard Dan begin to breathe more heavily and couldn't help but smile. He wondered if he ought to let the movie continue playing and see if Dan would reawake, but he never did, even during the louder parts. So when the movie ended he went and got an extra pillow and blanket.

He set them aside at first, and then carefully, but not without hesitation, pulled Dan's legs up onto the couch and readjusted him so that his head wasn't hanging off the back of the couch. He'd end up with a nasty crick in the neck if he slept the whole night like that.

And as Phil did this, Dan didn't even flinch or wake up at all. He carefully put the blanket over Dan as well, made sure that it covered his shoulders and feet, then finally shut the television off and made his own way to bed.

He awoke with a start to the sound of a series that Phil must have had on DVD and light streaming into Phil's living room from the left. He also felt very warm and realized Phil had covered with him a blanket as he began to shift.

"Good morning," Phil said from the armchair on his left. He was wearing flannel pants, a wrinkly black t-shirt and a pair of glasses which made his light colored eyes seem so much bigger. His hair was pushed off of his forehead and was still a bit messy from sleep. He held a large souvenir mug in his hands.

He raised a tattooed arm to push his hair back further and said, "If I had known this was going to be a sleepover I would have asked what kind of creamer you like in your coffee."

"Erm, any," Dan rubbed his face as he sat up. "What time is it?"

"Nine-thirty. Did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah. You could've woken up me, you know."

"I don't think I could have if I tried. Dan, I completely moved you around on the couch so you'd be more comfortable. But you didn't wake up, so I just let you sleep. You looked so relaxed anyway."

"Thanks, I guess. Do you have a spare toothbrush?"

"Under the bathroom sink. Do you want to stay and have breakfast or do you wanna take off already?"

"You already had me at coffee."

"In that case I'll make us some pancakes too."

"That sounds delicious. I'm sold."

"Great. I'll get started then." Phil stood. "And when you're ready come help yourself to some coffee."

"Okay."

After they'd eaten and filled up on coffee, Dan and Phil went onto the porch to look at the flowers they'd planted together. The sun was warm and pleasant in contrast to the crisp, still morning air.

"They have grown quite a lot," Dan said as he noticed the fresh, bright green leaves at the tips of the branches.

"Yes. Thanks again for your help."

"Sure. It was fun."

They walked down the pathway and across the driveway where Dan parked. He unlocked the driver side door, and reached onto the seat to grab the book and hand it to Phil.

"Erm, thanks for coming and hanging out. I know you didn't mean to fall asleep, but it was nice to have you over," Phil said.

"Oh, yeah. No problem, I guess? Just whenever you need me, I'm here to accidentally fall asleep on your couch?"

Phil laughed, and said, "You know what I mean."

And because Dan lived alone too, he did know what Phil meant. He said, "Yeah, I know. See you later, you nerd."

He passed the book back to Phil, who was laughing. "See you later, Dan."

Dan climbed into the car and carefully backed out of the driveway. Phil waved to him when he glanced back and he quickly waved back before driving towards his own home.


	6. Chapter 7

The following Tuesday Dan went about his duties as per the usual work day. Louise assisted him in everything he needed before making her own way at home at 4. Dan locked up the shop at 5 and on the way out to his car he glanced at the tattoo parlor.

He hadn't talked with Phil since the previous morning. He didn't hesitate though, until he had his hand on the key, about to start the engine. He glanced up again, and then got right back out of the car. He crossed the parking lot to the tattoo shop and pulled the door open to step inside, unsure of where to expect Phil to be.

But he was right there at the counter, talking with a blond man who was much shorter than either of them. Phil looked up, closely followed by the man he was with.

"Hey," Phil smiled brightly.

"Er," Dan began nervously. "Hey."

This man's most remarkable feature was the black tribal tattoo that decorated his left arm and disappeared into the sleeve of his black t-shirt. He wore glasses with wide, black rims and had an oval shaped face. The way this man looked between Dan and Phil as if he knew something wasn't lost on Dan. He looked helplessly at Phil.

"Oh, sorry," Phil glanced at the blond. "Dan, this is Tyler. Tyler this is Dan."

"Hi, Dan!" Tyler greeted him cheerfully.

"Hi," He replied in a much less enthusiastic manner.

"Dan works at the flower shop next door," Phil explained.

"Oh, so you're like, his competition?" Tyler asked playfully.

Dan laughed, glanced at Phil and said, "Not exactly."

"Not exactly?"

"Well, If anything it brings in the guys who've nearly forgotten a gift for their girlfriend's birthday," Dan explained. "We both get very different types of clientele."

"Oh, okay. That's good," Tyler smiled widely and then turned back to Phil. "Well, I better head out. But I'll be back tomorrow, Phil!"

"Okay, I'll see you then!"

Tyler said a farewell to Dan as well before turning to leave the shop.

"So anyways," Phil said "What's up?"

"Just wanted to come and say hey," Dan nervously pulled at the inside of his jacket pockets.

"Well, hey," Phil said with a hint of a smirk and braced a tattooed arm on the counter.

Dan's thoughts rapidly became scattered as he struggled to come up with a conversation starter. _Oh god,_ he thought. _Should've just gone home._

"Did you already lock up the shop?"

"Yeah," Dan looked up and found that Phil's expression changed from one that he dared to say was slightly flirtatious to one of concern.

"Well, I've still got a few things to do here," Phil said with his eyebrows slightly knitted. "But how about I call you later?"

"Yeah, okay. That sounds good."

"Alright, cool."

"I'll talk to you later then."

"Later," Phil agreed, before Dan left the shop and went home for the night.

Just as Phil had said, he called Dan who wouldn't admit that he was waiting for the phone to ring and when it did, he rushed downstairs to catch it.

"Hello?" Dan asked. The phone had already rung twice.

"Hey!" Phil said.

"Hey, Phil," Dan said and let out a stream of air as he realized how winded he became after running down the stairs.

"Did I call at a bad time?" Phil asked. "You sound kind of breathless."

"Huh? No, no, I was just upstairs because I had been in the shower and I left the upstairs phone down here the other night and-, why are you laughing?"

"You're so cute," Phil said as he began to regain control of his diaphragm.

"What? Cute?"

"Yeah, it's adorable," he confirmed, his voice lowering and causing Dan's heart to jump in its pace.

"When you assume I think you've been up to something less than innocent. It gives away what you're really thinking."

"Okay, Freud. Are you going to tell me I have mummy issues, next?"

"Now, that's a theory!" Phil said, and Dan let out a peal of laughter.

"In all seriousness though, Phil. I really was just running downstairs."

"Mmhm."

"Seriously!"

"I believe you!" Phil laughed. "Anyways, I'm glad you stopped by earlier today," Phil continued. "I wanted to be able to catch you before you left but I had a lot of things to take care of still. I was actually kind of bummed about that."

"No worries," Dan replied, letting the rhythm of the conversation take over

"So what have you been up to lately?" Phil asked.

* * *

It was about mid-week, and the two, tall men were sat across from each other in Dan's favorite diner.

"Erm, not much," Dan said, tapping his fingers restlessly.

"I'm all ears," Phil replied.

"Honestly Phil, I'm like the most boring person on the planet," Dan said. "I've got nothing."

"Sure you do. It's always the people who are the most quiet that have the most to say," Phil argued.

"That's so profound, Phil."

"Oh c'mon, get real for a minute."

Dan chanced a look at Phil, and his expression was that of one you might have when solving a difficult a math problem and running his tongue over the piercing near the corner of his mouth. He glanced away again quickly.

"The flowers are still doing really well," Phil tried.

"That's good."

"So, I'm still wanting to know," Phil began, causing dread to sink into Dan's bones. "Since you gave me the cold shoulder before-."

"I did not give you the cold shoulder!" Dan argued, and Phil began to laugh.

"Okay, maybe you didn't. But you were avoiding talking to me, that's for sure."

"Er," Dan made a thoughtful noise, almost a groan and said, "maybe I was."

"Maybe? More like, probably."

"Maybe, probably," Dan said in a playful tone.

"Well, do you want to maybe probably tell me about what you like about running the shop?"

"Oh, that. Erm," he paused. "I dunno, it's…"

Phil waited.

"It's kind of where I grew up," Dan said.

"Every day after school grandpa picked me up from school because my parents were still at work. While he was in the greenhouse I worked on my homework in the office. Sometimes I would help him with the flowers and he would teach me all about them. Sometimes I told him about my school work. I got to know some of his regulars."

Memories flooded his brain. The sound of his grandpa humming, the way he barely could use the desk in the office because he was so small, and how he laughed when his grandpa complained about having to begin using a computer to keep track of everything.

"I wonder why I stopped going," he said, more to himself than anything.

He remembered secondary school then, when his parents allowed him to stay home alone after school and he began to spend too much time on the internet and less around others.

 _You hardly come around_ _anymore_ , his grandpa once said. _Been busy?_

 _Something like that_ , was the seventeen year old Dan's response.

The truth was that he didn't really have any friends at school and being confused hadn't helped much either.

"There are so many memories. I couldn't sell the property to a stranger. He would've wanted it to remain as a flower shop. All of his regulars still go and some have even said before that they're glad I took over. I know some of them from when I was a kid still."

"Erm, anyways," he finished, looking up and noticing that Phil seemed to be hanging onto his every word with a pierced lip slightly parted. "That's enough from me."

"Aw, but I love listening to you talk."

"Yeah, I'm sure everything I say must be absolutely riveting."

Phil didn't miss a beat. "What can I say? I'm a hopeless romantic. Your voice is like music and all that."

Dan laughed. "You're so corny, Phil."

* * *

"Hey, come fall asleep on my couch."

"Oh, hey. I'm doing pretty good, thanks!"

"I'm serious," Phil laughed. "I bought this new game and stuff. Come over. I'll order pizza and we can make pancakes in the morning and everything."

It was Saturday night, the end of a long, busy week for the both of them. It'd been a week and a half since they'd last spent any real time together.

"Oh, I don't know," Dan said dramatically as he shut the fridge he'd been looking into idly. Pizza sounded much better than the leftovers that were a bad attempt at a recreation of something his mom used to make.

"C'mon, don't tease me. I rehearsed this in the mirror for five hours."

"You're joking."

"I am," Phil laughed. "Come overrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr."

"Alright," Dan conceded. "I'll be there in an hour."

"Awesome. I'll see you soon then!"

"See you soon."

They spent the evening exercising their teamwork skill in co-op of a new first person shooter game, grazing on a box of pizza, and then settled with a movie and Dan felt like he had a best friend for the first time.

He was twenty three years old and somehow never had the fundamental experience of pizza and video games with a friend while growing up. He supposed that maybe it was a bit sleepover-movie-cliché, but that didn't stop that stupid tightening in his throat when he realized how grateful he was that Phil gave him that. He tried to cough and the feeling soon passed, but he looked over at Phil, who glanced back at him.

"Erm, are you okay? You've got a funny look."

"Sh. I'm trying to watch," Dan said and put a finger to his lips.

Phil noticed the gesture, his eyes lingering on the way Dan's lips pursed for a moment.

The night grew older and the two of them, sleepier.

Phil's legs found their way onto the couch and his arms found their way around Dan, who froze in uncertainty.

"Relax, Dan. It's just me," Phil said, noticing the tension radiating throughout his body.

But it wasn't just Phil. It was _Phil_. Phil, who was adorable and attractive and much different than he expected him to be and his first best friend, who he talked to more in the month and a half that he'd known him than with any other person he'd known, who he'd had his first proper chat on the phone with, and the first person that was really making an effort to know him.

Dan felt that stupid tightening in his throat again and tried to gulp it down. As the feeling passed he brought his arm to rest around Phil's shoulders and Phil moved even closer if that were possible.

"You're adorable," escaped Dan.

"Why thank you," Phil mumbled back to him without taking his eyes off of the television screen and Dan giggled.

"Nerd."

"Dork."

"So," Phil said when he got up to turn the television off. "I'll stay out here that way you can sleep in my bed."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, its no problem. Plus, if I stay out here and I get up before you do it won't wake you up."

"That's really considerate of you. Thanks."

"Don't mention it. I'm just glad you decided to come over."

"You hardly gave me a choice, Phil."

"I hardly gave you a choice," Phil repeated in disbelief.

Dan laughed and said, "thank you for inviting me over."

Dan stood from the couch and picked up his duffel bag so that he could change in Phil's room.

"See you in the morning, then?" Dan asked.

"Yup. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

* * *

"Good morning, sunshine!" Phil had a full mug of coffee and was dispensing out the right portions for pancakes over a skillet plugged into the wall.

"Maybe to you," Dan mumbled as he padded into the kitchen. "Do I smell coffee?"

"No. It's a figment of your imagination."

"It's too early for that shit, Phil."

"I'm teasing!"

"Yeah, too early."

"How'd you sleep?" Phil asked as Dan clambered awkwardly onto a stool.

"Pretty well. Your bed is _so_ comfortable."

While Dan slowly woke up Phil made a second cup of coffee and set it on the counter in front of Dan.

"Oh, thanks." He took a sip and when he lowered the mug again he said, "You know how I make my coffee?"

"I paid attention the last time you were here."

"Oh."

Dan looked down into the creamy goodness that was his coffee, hiding his smile.

"How many pancakes do you want?"

"Er, a hundred."

Phil shot him a look to which Dan said, "Okay, like, five."

"That's a bit more realistic," Phil said. He put a stack of pancakes onto a plate for Dan and then pushed syrup and butter towards him.

"I seriously owe you for this breakfast. So delicious."

"Don't worry about it."

Phil was always saying things like that.


	7. Chapter 8

Dan and Phil usually had some sort of interaction at least once a day, whether it was a wave from Dan's car to Phil's or a phone call in the evening that could last anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour.

So when it'd been about four days since Dan had seen or heard from Phil in any manner, he was concerned, to say the least.

On a Thursday after he had closed up the flower shop, he walked over to the tattoo parlor, and found that the door was locked.

Weird, he thought.

At home that night, he decided to call Phil.

"Hello?" Phil answered in a thick, nasally voice. He coughed harshly.

"Phil?"

"Hey, Dan," Phil sniffed.

"Are you sick?"

"Unfortunately."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Phil said. He was breathing heavily, Dan noticed. "I think its pneumonia or something."

"Do you need to go to the doctor?!"

"No," Phil said and Dan could hear that he had a smile, even if it was small. "I've just been so exhausted lately and can hardly breathe."

"What about the shop?"

"I've had to cancel appointments. A couple of people were kind of upset, but most of them are rescheduled. I'm gonna be busy next week," Phil joked, and it amazed Dan that he was still trying to be humorous because it was clear he was in a terrible state.

"So everything is okay?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Okay, because I was kind of worried," Dan said.

"Nothing to worry about," Phil said, just before going into another coughing fit.

"I'm gonna come over," Dan said, coming to a resolve.

"What? No, you should get some sleep and stuff. I bet you're tired," Phil protested.

"But you're sick."

"So?"

"So, I want to come over and make sure you're okay," Dan said.

"The house is kind of a mess and you could get sick."

"I don't care. Is it okay that I come over? I mean, I won't if you really don't want me to."

"No, it's fine. I've been kind of wanting to see you anyways. I'm seriously warning you, though," Phil said, "I look terrible and the house is a mess."

"I don't care. I'll be over in an hour. I'm gonna stop at the store on the way."

"Okay. I'll see you soon. You can just walk in when you get here."

"Okay, I'll see you soon," Dan hung up the phone. He then dialed Louise's number and brought the phone back to his ear.

"Hello?" Louise answered, confused.

"Hey, Louise?"

"Yeah, is everything okay?"

"Yeah. I just have to ask something." Dan hesitated and began to feel guilty.

"What is it?"

"You can say no, but will you be able to hold down the shop tomorrow?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

"I'm really sorry."

"No, no! You need a break, anyways," Louise laughed.

"Okay, thank you so much," Dan gushed with gratitude.

"No problem. Have a nice day off!"

"Thank you. I'll talk to you later."

"Talk to you later," Louise said and Dan hung up the phone to put it back on the charger.

He collected his keys from the counter where he'd left them just minutes before when he first got home, and walked back out of the house.

At the grocery store Dan collected tea and honey, cough drops, a few bottles of water, and a few things to make a chicken soup with the next day. At the register while paying, he began to feel silly and regretful. It was too late for that, he reasoned and thanked the cashier.

The remainder of the journey to Phil's house was short and as Phil said, he let himself in. The house was not a mess, Dan thought and rolled his eyes. He brought the bags into the kitchen and called, "Phil?"

"Bedroom, Dan," Phil called back in a weak voice from down the hall.

Dan headed in that direction and found Phil lying in bed, with his hair a mess and blankets tangled around him. He pushed himself up to sit, reached for and put his glasses on, and said, "Hey."

"Hey," Dan lowered himself to the edge of Phil's bed. "You okay?"

"Yeah."

"So, er, I got some tea if you'd like some. Do you have a kettle?"

"Yeah. I keep it in the cupboard above the microwave," Phil said. "You seriously didn't have to come over. I can take care of myself."

"I wanted to," Dan said.

"Fair enough," Phil replied with a small smile.

"Have you been drinking water and stuff?"

"Yeah. But then I pee a lot and getting out of bed is no fun. I feel so tired and sore all over."

Dan laughed. "That sucks."

"Yeah," Phil agreed.

"Well, I'm gonna go start the kettle. I'll be right back."

"Okay. I'll be here."

Dan laughed again and in the kitchen he went to the cupboard Phil had referred to. He found the kettle and filled it with water from the sink to begin boiling the water. He put the groceries into the appropriate places in the fridge and then returned to Phil's room to sit at the edge of the bed again.

"Alright, the kettle is going."

"Cool. And, er, thanks by the way."

"No problem," Dan smiled. "What have you gotten up to while sick?"

"Well, not much, honestly. I've tried to read and watch some television, but I end up just passing out from the cold medicine."

"That sucks."

"Yeah."

"Are you hungry?"

"Not really."

The two of them settled into a comfortable quietness for a few moments. Phil reached over for the remote to the TV against the opposite wall and passed it to Dan. He said, "Here, put something on. Maybe I'll get through The Voice this time."

Dan laughed and turned the television on to a station Phil mentioned. They settled on a crime scene investigation type of program and spent the evening sipping TV and watching television. Phil at one point turned on a bedside lamp and moved over so that the two of them could sit with their backs to the headboard.

"You know," Dan said when Phil put his tea aside and tried to settle for sleep. "I've heard cuddling boosts the immune system."

"You're full of it," Phil said and Dan laughed. "And I'm not letting you get sick. Stay at least two feet away from me."

Dan laughed again, but frowned when Phil began to cough.

"I'll be right back," he said and went to retrieve the cough drops from the kitchen.

When he returned to Phil's room, he found that Phil had turned over to face the doorway. He threw the cough drops to him and then got back into his spot.

"You got me cough drops, too?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you," he said.

He opened the package to get a couch drop out and then turned over again to try and sleep.

"You're not intending on sleeping over, are you?"

"Are you kicking me out?"

"No, but it's late and you have work early, don't you?"

"I called Louise already."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. I wanted to come over."

"Thanks."

Dan hummed in response.

"There's pajamas in the top drawer of the dresser if you need to borrow something," Phil mumbled into his pillow a few minutes later. "You can sleep in here if you want. I'm sorry I'm so poorly."

"Thank you. And stop apologizing," Dan said.

Dan found a pair of pajama pants in the drawer Phil referred to and changed in the connecting restroom.

When he returned to the room, Phil had put his glasses next to his mug and was snoring softly. Dan smiled, shut off the light, and then crawled into the bed beside him. He faced the other way, because while he didn't want Phil to be alone, he still didn't want to catch anything.

* * *

Early in the morning Dan awoke to the sound of Phil coughing in the restroom. He frowned at how awful Phil sounded. It was still very early, so he drifted off to sleep after Phil crawled back into the bed and did the same.

A few hours later Dan got up to make water for tea and brought some to Phil, who began watching the morning news.

"Thanks," Phil said with a voice still rough from sleeping.

"I'm gonna make some soup, is that okay?" Dan asked from the doorway.

"Sure," he replied, and began to cough.

"Drink your tea," Dan said and then went into the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Dan found a large pot and filled it with water. He put the chicken in the water first, allowing it to cook thoroughly before he would chop and mix in the vegetables.

He had bought celery, onions, potatoes and carrots to put into the soup. While the chicken was cooking, he returned to Phil's room.

"I thought you were making soup?"

"I am. I'm waiting for the chicken to get done first."

"The chicken?" Phil asked and his eyes widened slightly. "Are you making an entire chicken stew?"

"Well, not a big one but I'm not making canned soup. Blegh."

"Dan," Phil said.

"What?"

Dan looked down at Phil, suddenly terrified of what he might say. Would Phil suddenly think Dan was trying too hard, that he was smothering him?

"Thank you."

"Oh."

"Thank you so much, Dan. Really."

It was Friday evening and Dan was gathering up his things to head back to his house as he had work in the morning. Phil was showing signs of recovery and was supplied with tea and chicken soup to help the process move further along.

"No problem. I'm just glad you're starting to feel a bit better," Dan said with a smile.

Phil had decided to lounge on the couch as he was restless from lying in bed for a few days.

"Yeah, me too. I'll have to treat you once I'm at full health again."

"Not necessary. You cook for me and stuff all the time."

"Not all the time," Phil argued.

"No, not all the time, but a lot."

"Whatever," Phil said.

"I'll see you later then. Take care."

"Thanks, Dan. See you later."

"So, where do you want to go?"

"Er, the diner, I guess?"

"We always go there," Phil argued as he kept the truck in park.

"Erm, I don't think I'm dressed well enough to go anywhere else, Phil. I've still got my work clothes on."

"Well, we can stop by your place. Or we can just go to the diner. The same, boring diner," Phil drawled dramatically.

"Okay, fine." Dan conceded with a smile. "Let's swing by my place so I can change."

"Awesome," Phil said excitedly with a wide smile.

Phil maneuvered the truck onto the main roads and then said, "It just occurred to me that I don't know where you live."

"Oh, right," Dan laughed and explained how to get to his house.

When they pulled up to the curb outside Dan's house he hopped out quickly and said, "I'll be back shortly."

A few minutes later he came down in a pair of dark jeans and a black, long sleeve shirt. When he climbed into the car and buckled his seat belt, he looked up to find Phil's eyes climbing his body. He gulped and said quietly, "er, I'm ready to go."

"Right," Phil mumbled and restarted the car. "You look good, by the way."

"Stop. You're making me blush," Dan said sarcastically and earned a laugh from Phil.

"So, er, there's this really good Chinese place I've been wanting to go to," Phil said after a few minutes of being back on the road.

"That sounds good," Dan said. "I love Chinese food."

"Alright, cool."

"I finally finished all of the soup you made me," Phil said conversationally.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah. It was good. Thanks again for making it."

"No problem."

The ride to the Chinese restaurant was about fifteen minutes long, and when Phil pulled into the parking lot Dan said, "Wow, this place is really nice, Phil."

"Er, yeah," Phil laughed nervously. "I wanted to take you some place nice."

"Well, erm, thanks, I guess," Dan said.

Phil parked and turned off the car. After they climbed out of the car and approached the stylish building Phil pulled the heavy glass door open to let Dan inside first.

"It's kind of busy in here," Dan said to Phil, leaning over to be heard over the other voices.

The restaurant was dimly lit by simple, relaxing toned sconces and had a modern design with dark, granite floors and leather booth seats.

"Well, it is Saturday," Phil reasoned.

There were two groups of people waiting to be seated ahead of them, but there was a table found for them soon and the brunette hostess led them to a table in a quieter area away from the bar.

"Okay, that's better," Dan laughed when he settled into the booth across from Phil. "I can hear myself think."

"Right," Phil agreed.

The hostess left the menus for them and said that their waiter would be with them soon.

"Phil, seriously, this place is so nice. I don't even know what to order," Dan said when he opened the menu, smiling in disbelief.

"Well, let's just order some soda or something for now," Phil said dismissively as he looked over the menu.

"Er, okay."

When their waitress stopped at their table they gave her their drink order and said that they needed a few more minutes to decide on what to eat.

Dan scanned his menu, and then lowered it to look at Phil uncertainly.

"Okay," Phil lowered his own menu. "I'm gonna be honest, Dan," he leaned forward slightly and paused. "I just really didn't feel like cooking and had a Chinese food craving."

Dan laughed. "And here I thought you were trying to do something special for me."

"Paying for dinner means nothing. Cooking does. When someone cooks they put in personal time and effort."

"Are you getting sappy on me again?"

"Only a little," Phil said. "On the other hand though, I guess people make money from their personal time and effort so paying for something… well, it's the thought that counts right?"

"Right."

"Anyways, we can share one of the chicken bowls and get some egg rolls or something. The dinner plates are pretty big and we get salad or soup with them."

"Okay, but let's get the sesame chicken. And noodles, not rice." Dan bargained.

"Sounds good. Soup or salad?" Phil asked.

"Soup. And one more thing."

"What?"

"I'll pay this time."

* * *

"Well, that was really good," Dan said as they pulled up next to his car where they had left it outside the flower shop.

"Yeah, it was fun."

"We have to go there again sometime," Dan said.

Phil hummed in agreement.

"Anyways," Dan tugged on the door handle and pushed it open to hop out of the truck.

Phil followed and walked him over to his car. As Dan unlocked and pulled the car door open, Phil braced a hand over the top of it.

"So, I'll see you later?"

"Yeah. And, erm, one more thing."

"What?"

Dan felt as though he should have expected it for some reason, and yet it took him a long moment to process that Phil reached out to hold Dan's face in his hands and press their lips together.

"I'm not just letting you walk away this time."


	8. Chapter 9

Dan blinked at Phil in surprise.

"You kissed me."

It was just a peck, really, but a kiss nonetheless.

Phil grimaced as if bracing for impact, in fear of Dan's reaction and said, "If you want to punch me or something now, go for it. I'm wide open."

Dan didn't know what to think, let alone say. All he could really process was the lingering feeling of the weight of Phil's soft lips and the rush of his blood, but he knew he enjoyed that. He really enjoyed that and definitely did not want to punch Phil in the face.

So he leaned in and rested a hand at Phil's shoulder to press their lips together again. He pulled back with a small smile and pulled shallowly at the air between them.

"I take it you don't want to punch me."

"No," Dan said.

Phil wound his arms Dan and pulled him close for a third kiss. Dan's heart pounded but he responded enthusiastically, leaning into Phil, enjoying the touch of his hands and the feeling of his body against his own.

"I could kiss you forever," Dan said quietly when they broke apart.

"I should probably say goodnight then," Phil said, but brought him close for another kiss.

"It has been a very good night," Dan mused.

"Well, I'm glad." Phil kissed him once more and said, "Goodnight, Dan."

* * *

"Do you want to come over for dinner?" Phil asked.

It was Wednesday afternoon and the two of them had yet to really talk about what happened, unless you want to call leaning over the counter of Phil's tattoo shop in a fervent lip-lock just the day before "talking about it".

"This isn't working," Phil had said when he released Dan's shirt and shoulder from his grip.

"What?" Dan asked, leaning into the counter with his hands pressed to the edge of the glass.

"I can't hold you properly like this," he said and Dan had smirked, replying, "Then get over here on this side of the counter and kiss me right."

"Sure," Dan replied. "What are you gonna make?

"Not sure yet," Phil answered. "Is there anything in particular you want to eat?"

"Not really."

"Okay, I'll start something then. See you soon.'

"See you soon," Dan agreed. He hung up the phone, and then eagerly collected his jacket and shoes before heading to Phil's.

Over the twenty minute ride, Dan glanced into mirror a few times to ensure his fringe was still in place.

When he knocked on Phil's door he called out, "Come in!"

He pushed the door open and found Phil in the living room playing a video game. He paused the mission he was on, stood, and said, "Hey."

"I thought you were cooking," Dan said in a playful tone from the archway into the living room. He slid his hands into his jacket pockets and fidgeted restlessly.

"Lasagna is in the oven," Phil replied with a smile.

"Oh, that sounds good."

Phil hummed. "And garlic bread." He slipped his arms around Dan's waist and pressed a kiss to his lips.

"There is no time for kissing, Phil," Dan teased when he pulled back for a moment. "We have covenant ass to kick."

Phil laughed, pecked Dan once more, and the two of them settled on Phil's couch.

They completed two objectives and then Dan put his controller aside.

With creased eyebrows, Phil looked over and said, "Is something wrong?'

"No, of course not."

Phil leaned over to kiss Dan and he responded eagerly, but soon broke the kiss. Phil continued to kiss down his cheek and to his jaw even as he said, "Phil, I'm really enjoying all this kissing but I need some clarification."

Phil hummed and said, "What's there to clarify?"

Dan moved out of the reach of his lips, despite the confusion on Phil's face and said, "What are we?"

"Well, I really like you. Like, a lot. And if you want to stamp a name on it, it can be boyfriends, if that's okay with you."

"I really like you too," Dan replied quietly. "And that's definitely okay."

"Okay then," Phil said in a soft tone. "I have to go put the garlic bread in. I'll be right back."

What the two of them had was relaxed and easy and maybe the kissing they began doing was just icing on top for Dan. But he loved what they already had and sincerely hoped that nothing would change. They were friends first and he would never want to lose that.

"Hey Phil?" Dan asked that night after they had eaten and decided to watch a movie.

"Hmm?" Phil asked from he was lying with his head on Dan's chest.

"We won't change right?"

Phil looked up at Dan and said, "Of course you muffin head. Now hush, I'm trying to watch the movie."

"My bad," Dan said, his voice dropping dramatically. Phil laughed quietly and the two of them refocused on the movie.

* * *

"Good morning," Louise said brightly as she walked into the small office. She put her purse on top of one of the filing cabinets.

"Morning," Dan replied.

"How are you this morning?"

"Good," Dan hesitated and then said, "I guess, er, I guess Phil is my boyfriend."

"What."

"Erm, yeah. We-, well, he kissed me and… yeah."

"No way?!" Louise said in disbelief.

The bell to the shop chimed and Louise looked out of the office for a moment. She said to Dan, "We will talk more about this asap! I _have_ to know all the details!" before she left the office to help their customer.

Later on, when Dan was beginning to work on the end of the day reports, Louise said, "So."

"So?" Dan asked her expectantly.

"You've got to tell me about what happened with Phil!"

"Oh. Well, on Saturday he kissed me. After we went out to eat," Dan said as he was clicking away on the keyboard.

"How was it?"

"I dunno. Lip-y?"

Louise laughed and Dan continued, "I dunno. It was the first time anyone ever kissed me and I was basically like, "what?" and we kissed some more."

The blonde let out another roll of laughter to which Dan said, "Why is it so funny?"

"It just is! Does he know that he's your first kiss?"

"Erm, well, we've never really talked about anything like that," Dan said. "Plus, I feel so awkward just talking about it now. I mean, I'm twenty- three years old, I should've lost my virginity by now."

"There isn't a specific time that anyone needs to lose their virginity," Louise argued. "It's up to the person and their situation."

"I dunno." Dan shrugged, hoping that the conversation would end soon. "Besides, I'm sure its obvious that I'm inexperienced."

"Well, I wouldn't say that."

"I dunno."

"Alright," Louise said in a resigned tone. "Well, I better head off. Have a good one, Dan!"

"Thanks, Louise. See you later."

Dan finished up his reports and was soon making his own way home. He supposed that Louise was right. There was nothing wrong with being inexperienced, but that didn't mean he wasn't nervous.

Despite Dan's nerves, Phil always kissed or held him gently and always pulled away just inside his comfort zone. Phil never took more than he could give.

And, much to Dan's relief, their usual dynamic never changed. He didn't feel the pressure to act as though everything was a date, and neither did Phil, or at least he figured.

The only difference was that they were kissing freely in between strategizing their video game tactics, cuddling on Phil's couch with a movie, and arguing about fictional headcanons or the pronunciation of pinot-noir.

To quell the issue, Dan went on to Phil's laptop and on to to have the word read out loud by the program while they were in Phil's living room and had been playing a video game.

"See?!" Dan had said, throwing a hand out to gesture at the screen.

"Okay, fine. You're right," Phil had sighed and then leaned over to kiss him.

"How did we end up on this topic, anyway?" Dan asked in between a more languid kiss.

"I asked if you wanted some wine with dinner this weekend," Phil replied.

"And you suggested pin-it-nor," Dan mumbled.

"Sounds better than pee-known-war."

"Well, anything sounds better when you say it like _that_."

Phil let out an eye-crinkling laugh and said, "Even pin-it-nor?"

"Even pin-it-nor."

"So tomorrow night at around seven, I'll come and get you, is that okay?" Phil asked on Friday night. "That way you don't have to drive."

"Erm," Dan hesitated. "Yeah, that should be fine."

"I'm gonna cook dinner and stuff," he added.

"That sounds good," Dan said, but after they said goodnight and hung up, he was fretting about the plans they had up until Phil was knocking on his door the next night.

* * *

"Hey," Dan said when he pulled the door open. "Give me a second. My duffel bag is upstairs still."

"No problem," Phil said.

Dan climbed the stairs one more time and returned a few moments later with his duffel bag hanging over his shoulder. "Okay," he said.

Phil waited as Dan put his bag on the ground and locked up the house. He lifted up the bag as Dan turned.

"Thanks," he said.

"No problem," Phil said and led the way down the steps to where the truck was parked.

"So," he said once they were on the road. "I'm gonna stop at the grocery store to get the pee-known-war."

"You're still pronouncing it wrong," Dan said.

"Whatever," Phil laughed.

When they stopped at the grocery store, Dan opted to remain in the truck with the windows down to let the breeze in.

The sun was just beginning to set on a balmy, breezy day and was painting the sky is beautiful hues of blue, red, and purple.

"Nice day, huh?" He commented to Phil when he returned to the truck.

Phil hummed in agreement.

"So, I hope you like what I made for dinner. I've been slaving in the kitchen all day," Phil said as if he couldn't believe it.

"Oh, yeah? Your Stouffer's lasagna and garlic bread?" Dan teased.

"Be quiet. You know that stuff is good, anyway." Phil said lightly. "Besides, I've actually made a roast. It's gonna be so good."

"That does sound good," Dan said.

A roast did sound delicious and he was looking forward to it, but Dan felt a strange sort of tension in the enclosed space of Phil's truck. Or, he thought, maybe it was just him. He glanced at Phil, who pulled the mirror/shade down above him to shield his eyes from the setting sun and rested an arm on the car door.

Phil glanced at him with his eyebrows knitted.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah," Dan said. "Sorry."

Phil frowned as he refocused on the road and completed the journey to the house.

"So have you ever had pee-known-war before?" Phil asked as he took a seat across from Dan at his dining room table and placed a glass of pinot noir down for each of them.

"No, Phil, I've never had pee-known-war before," Dan said with a smirk as he dramatized Phil's pronunciation.

"Well, this one is really good."

"I've never had any alcohol before."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Well, if you want," Phil continued carefully. "You can just try a sip."

"Maybe just a sip," Dan decided. He reached for the glass and took a hesitant pull on the liquid. He smacked his lips, contemplating the taste and decided it was good.

"Good?"

Dan hummed and took another sip. He felt a pleasant warmth fill him and although he did enjoy it, he did not finish his glass, while Phil had one that was filled higher than his own.

Phil put the wine away as well as the food when they cleaned up from dinner.

"That was really good," Dan said from where he was leaning against the counter.

"Well, I'm glad you liked it." Phil wiped his hands on a dish towel and stepped in front of Dan to kiss him.

"Anything for dessert?" Dan asked him in a breathy tone, relishing in the feeling of Phil's hands running up his back.

"Have I not been sweet enough?" Phil asked before pressing a kiss along his jaw.

"No, you're awfully bitter," Dan teased, but he was tilting his head away from Phil with one hand clenched nervously around the edge of the counter.

Phil stepped away, taking notice of his tension. He reached out to readjust the hem of Dan's shirt.

"Phil, erm, I should probably tell you about something," Dan said.

"You don't have to say anything, okay?" He replied as he pulled the lapels of Dan's jacket closer together for him. "We don't have to talk about it. We can just lay down and watch a movie or something. I just want you close, you know? No-, no pressure or anything."

"Thanks, Phil."

So that night, Phil put on a movie and the two of them sat with their backs to the headboard of Phil's bed. After they had changed into pajamas, Phil leaned over and pressed a loud kiss to Dan's cheek and slipped his arms around his waist.

"I absolutely adore you," Dan sighed and wrapped an arm around Phil's shoulders.

"Well, you're pretty cute too," Phil bantered.

"Gee, thanks. What a compliment."

"Shh. It's starting."


	9. Chapter 10

Sometime in the night Phil had moved close to Dan after he had fallen asleep. It was as though Phil was trying to crawl into Dan's chest if it were possible. He had himself tucked up to him with a face in his chest, an arm around his waist and a leg in between each of Dan's own.

Dan was surprised at the position he found them in but did not move away. Phil was already letting out a soft snore again and there was something comforting about the way he seemed to love touching Dan. Touching, whether it was as innocent as a playful punch to the arm or the way he borderline sensually placed multiple kisses from his lips to where his jaw met his neck near his ear. Or, when sitting beside each other, Phil's leg would be pressed to his as though he was saying, "I'm right here," whether it was deliberate or not.

It was just… nice.

And Dan was learning to welcome it more and more as they spent an increasing amount of time together.

The next morning Dan had found that not much had changed from their sleeping arrangements. When he stirred though, Phil did too and let out a sleepy moan. Phil tightened his arms around Dan as if he were a pillow.

"Good morning," Dan mumbled groggily.

Phil let out another groan and Dan chuckled.

"Dan, be quiet this was supposed to be all peaceful and cheesy."

"Everything about this is cheesy. Or even cheesier, we can go and brush our teeth then lay back down. That way we can pretend we woke up all cuddled together and kissed as if we don't have morning breath."

"Tempting. But my bed, and you, are far too comfortable to seriously consider moving."

"Agreed," Dan said.

Phil nuzzled further into Dan, who had a hand at his back. Dan ran a hand up and down Phil's back and then settled with letting it rest lazily at his waist.

"That was nice. Why'd you stop?" Phil asked in complaint with a slightly muffled voice.

"What happened to peaceful and cheesy? Complaints are not romantic, Phil."

"Whatever, Dan," Phil mumbled.

* * *

After spending the night at Phil's, Dan spent the remainder of the weekend pouring himself into a book in an attempt to distract himself from the inevitable.

On Monday night the phone rang, and he was half-hoping it was Phil calling, but it was his mother.

"Hey, mum," Dan said half-heartedly after his mother greeted him cheerfully.

His mother launched into a slow buildup to the invitation to the cemetery. They'd gone the previous year after the same painful persuading his mother was using now.

"I don't know," Dan sighed. "Probably, I guess."

He knew he couldn't have avoided the phone call for very long, or come up with an excuse as to why he couldn't go. He might as well give in and say that yes, he would go, without putting up a fight.

After a few more minutes of his mother being falsely chipper, Dan abruptly said, "Hey, mum, I've got a headache and I should get some sleep. Goodnight."

His mother returned the pleasantry and Dan hung up the phone. He placed it back down on the charger, and then turned to clean his place from a dinner that he suddenly didn't find very appetizing anymore.

Next Sunday morning he'd be making the long drive to the cemetery and then would probably also agree, for some stupid reason, to have lunch as well.

* * *

 _Hopeful Books_

Dan looked up at the simple, yellow lettering above the small shop front that had been for lease for months. He recalled seeing the 'for lease' sign being taken down a week ago, but didn't think much of it until then and was excited by the idea of a mom and pop book shop being in the neighborhood.

Although, there was probably something more creative than Hopeful Books that could be used as a book shop name.

Now, aside from Howell's Arrangements, Lester's Ink, and Cat's Café, they had this book shop. Their little building on this quiet side of town seemed more out of place, but even more as every shop contrasted so drastically from the others and it was for that same reason that it all seemed to fit perfectly.

It was an interesting little building that sat next to a winding road branching off of the main city road and just nearby there was a gas station.

By about mid-week it seemed as though the book store was running fully as Dan had seen people coming and going with brown paper bags labeled by the shop title. He noticed this as he made his way from the flower shop to his car and made a mental note to venture into the book store sometime soon.

"Hey," Phil drawled out cheerfully when Dan came out of the office to help someone he'd heard entering the shop.

"Hey," Dan let out a small smile.

It was late Thursday afternoon and Louise had gone home.

"How've you been?" Phil asked.

"I'm technically still, like, on the clock, so, er…," Dan said and Phil smiled.

"That's alright," he replied. "I just wanted to see if you wanted to meet up for something to eat when you're done."

"Er, I really don't feel up for much, honestly. Sorry, Phil."

"You feeling okay? You didn't catch my cold did you?"

"No," Dan smiled. "Just have had a lot on my mind."

Phil's eyes were still creased in concern. He said, "We can talk if you want."

"That's okay. I just want to get my stuff done and head home. Thanks, though."

"Well, I'll keep an ear out for the phone if you want to call me later," Phil said, turning to walk back out.

"Hey, Phil," Dan called out again.

He turned back to Dan, who had walked around the counter and to his surprise, wrapped his arms around the other.

"Thanks," Dan said.

"You're welcome," Phil let out a small laugh as he released him.

He hesitated, but then gave Phil a quick kiss. He said, "See you later."

"Later," Phil echoed through a cheek-lifting smile.

Dan spent what was left of the week with his face buried in Netflix and books, going through obscure titles of dark comedies and even more unusual genres in order to continue distracting himself.

* * *

"Hey, stranger," Phil said to Dan when he picked up the phone on Saturday around mid-day.

"Hey. Sorry, I've been a bit of a hermit," Dan said sheepishly.

"It's alright. I was just wondering if you might like to have dinner tonight."

"Er, I'd rather not. Sorry."

"No worries. What's up?"

Dan knew he meant more than just 'what's up?' Dan had been isolating himself and this was the second time Phil reached out to him.

"We're going to the cemetery tomorrow."

"Oh."

"Yeah. I have to get up early."

"I see," Phil said.

"Yeah. My mum called earlier this week. I have been dreading this," Dan confided.

"I'm sorry."

"Ah, it's okay. I just…," Dan trailed off.

"What have you been up to?"

"Just reading and stuff," he replied and he and Phil began sharing the titles of movies and books they read recently.

"You see that shop that just started up next to yours?" Dan asked.

"You mean Hopeful Books?"

"Yeah."

"I did, actually. I think it's awesome there's a book store nearby now."

"Yeah, its really cool. I've been meaning to check it out."

"You mean you haven't gone in yet?"

"Nah," Dan replied. "Have you?"

"Not yet."

"We should sometime soon. You and I, you know?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," Dan said distractedly. "Hey, erm, I've got some chores and stuff to get done. Can I call you back tomorrow or something?"

"Sure, yeah. I'll chat with you later, then."

"Talk to you later."

Dan hung up his phone and got up from his recliner to return it to the charger. He went through the motions of cleaning. Mechanically, he detailed the kitchen and living room, as he'd been neglecting the less noticeable mess of the house.

He swept, mopped, vacuumed, and scrubbed the counters and cupboard doors. To his own amazement, he even cleaned out the fridge and scrubbed that until it was blinding white as well.

He also did his laundry, knowing he'd want to wear something nice the next morning and his nicest, knit sweater was in his laundry hamper in the closet.

He cleaned the upstairs as well, and when he was done with that he realized most of the afternoon had passed. He threw himself onto his bed with a sense of great accomplishment and drifted off into a deep nap almost immediately.

When he awoke he discovered that the sun had set. He sat up, and could hear a car go by on the street.

It was dark and quiet and for some reason it made his heart pound.

He'd never been particularly afraid of the dark, but for some reason he couldn't draw a full breath or keep from glancing frantically around the penetrating darkness. He could hear his own heartbeat as it rose.

He got up to get the phone from the charger that sat on the dressing table opposite from him and the bedroom door. He dialed a number that, even though was in his contacts, he knew by memory.

He gulped as the phone rang and he waited.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Phil?" Dan winced when he noticed how high his voice was.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Are you busy?" he asked as he paced to the other side of the room.

"No, why?"

"D'you want to come over?"

"Just-, right now?" Phil's voice rose in concern.

"Yeah. I just don't want to be alone right now."

"Sure. No problem. I'll grab something for us to eat on my way, is that okay?"

"Yeah, whatever."

"Alright. I should be there soon."

"Okay," Dan said. "And thanks, Phil."

In a gentle voice, Phil replied, "No problem, Dan."

* * *

"Hey," Dan said when he opened the door to find Phil standing there. "Come in."

Phil stepped into the house, carrying what looked like a take-out bag from a nearby Mexican restaurant.

"Thank you. I'm sorry," Dan said hastily as he led the way to the kitchen.

"Don't apologize," Phil said. "I really wanted to see you, but I didn't want to like, make you feel pressured or anything."

Phil put the bag on the dining table as they sat down.

"So what did you get?" Dan asked as he began to rummage through the bag.

"Well, I wasn't sure what you'd like. I got a few things."

They both picked out a couple of things to eat and shared an order of nachos as well.

"So, are you gonna tell me what's going on?" Phil asked when they'd both had their fill.

"I don't know," Dan sighed.

"I'm all ears," Phil said blithely. "If you want to talk about it, anyways."

Dan stood and gathered up their trash. He began to say, "It's just… he's gone, you know?" Dan dumped the makeshift trash bag into the bin with a foot lever to lift the lid.

"He's never gonna come back." The lid to trash bin fell shut with a snap and Phil flinched, but did not say anything or move.

"And I sometimes still wish I had spent more time with him when he was still here, but now I can't."

"You can't blame yourself for anything," Phil said as Dan collected a brightly colored cup from a cabinet and began to fill it with water from the fridge.

"I don't. I just-, I can't help but think 'what if I'd spent more time with him' because I miss him so much now."

"What ifs don't change anything," Phil said from where he still sat at the table.

"I know," Dan sighed. He pulled the cup away from the fridge with a small click. "It's just hard."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Water?" Dan asked.

"Sure, thanks," Phil said and Dan placed the cup in front of him and then filled a second cup for himself.

Dan gulped greedily from his own cup and sighed.

"Better?" Phil asked.

"Yeah." Dan said. He sat back down 90 degrees to where Phil was. "I've never talked about that to anyone, you know."

"What time do you have to get up tomorrow?" Phil asked. He swirled the water around in his cup and then took another gulp.

"About 9. I have to leave at about 10 to meet mum and dad at 11."

"Do you need me to stay over tonight?"

"If you want to."

"But what do _you_ want?" Phil asked.

"I want you here."

"Then, I'll be here."

"You were the person first to kiss me," Dan said quietly into the darkness. The weight of another person, Phil, and the sound of his breathing beside him was soothing. Phil turned to look at him as he added, "I just thought you should know."

"Really?" Phil asked.

"Yeah. You're also kind of my first real friend," he admitted with a small laugh and Phil smiled.

"Don't kid with me," Phil said.

"I'm not. You really are… my first in a lot of ways," Dan said. He looked at Phil and the words, "I love you," nearly spilled from his lips. He held back, though, as the sudden emotion frightened him.

Phil didn't say anything, but moved close to Dan and held onto him.

They slept that way and in the morning before Dan began to get ready, Phil told him that he hoped everything went well as he was leaving.

Dan and his parents didn't do any significant talking. They exchanged pleasantries but that was only routine on a day like this.

It was his granddad from his mother's side who was lying below their feet, and his mum cried and said that she missed him.

"I do too," was about the only thing Dan said that entire morning.

His Dad put an arm around his mother to soothe her.

At the restaurant they began to talk about the flower shop and his mother asked about Louise which was the only thing he could really recall from the conversation. That, and, his Dad's doctor put him on medicine to help with the cholesterol.

Before leaving, Dan hugged his mom and shook his Dad's hand. His Dad wasn't really the touchy-feely type.

His mother wished him well and then he was on his way.

* * *

"So, how did it go?" Phil asked when Dan called him later that day.

"I dunno," he said. "You wanna meet up for a milkshake? I've got a terrible sweet tooth."

"Sure."


	10. Chapter 11

"Are you sure you don't want to go some place else?"

Dan and Phil were sitting across from each in the diner with red leather booth seats. Dan had waited a few short minutes for Phil to arrive and explained to a waitress that he was waiting.

"Yes," Dan said determinedly.

A women in a 60s style dress and apron waitress outfit stopped at their table for their order and they asked for two milk shakes; berry for Dan and vanilla for Phil.

"So, you're buying right?" Dan asked and laughed when Phil looked at him exasperatedly. He said, "I'm kidding. I'll buy them today."

Dan tapped out the beat to a song he'd heard recently, while Phil's hands were still as they rested on the table-top. Dan's eyes scanned the tattoos that colored Phil's forearms and appreciated the creativity.

"They're really cool," he said distractedly.

"Huh?" Phil looked down and then said, "Oh," in understanding.

"So you designed them yourself, right?"

"Yeah," Phil said. "I design pretty much all of the tattoos that are on the walls in the shop."

"Do you draw other stuff?"

"Yeah, sometimes. Mostly just similar style doodles to these," Phil referred to the tattoos on his arms, "or more artsy fartsy stuff like the lion and stuff."

"Oh, yeah? Do you-, can I see them sometime?"

"Sure. Yeah. I'd love to show them to you." Phil said and Dan smiled.

Their waitress brought their milkshakes around. When she asked if they'd want anything else, they told her no and she left the bill for them.

They ate their milkshakes mostly in a companionable silence, aside from Phil giggling when, much to his disappoint, Dan's dripped onto the table top.

"Shut up," he pouted.

"So you know what sounds good on a day like this?" Phil asked after they had paid and left the diner. They didn't really have a destination, so they lingered idly by Phil's truck.

"What?" Dan asked.

"Book store browsing," Phil replied with a smile.

"That does sound good," Dan said thoughtfully. "How about I drive this time?"

"Sure. Let's go."

Hopeful Books was decorated as if you were walking into your own home and the smell of books filled their noises. There were a wide variety of genres and two larger sections for new and used books. The shelves were made of stained pine to look much darker and there were inspirational messages along the walls. Aside from books, there were mugs and other small, useful things such as bookmarks and book lights.

And, behind the counter to the left of the entrance where a register was set up, was a curly haired blonde woman with a kind smile.

She greeted them enthusiastically when they first entered and Dan waved uncertainly.

They scanned the shelves and found a cozy sitting area in a corner of the shop as well.

The shop was so full of character and cozy ambience; Dan could've spent hours here.

On the way out, when they stopped to look at a spinning rack of bookmarks, the woman at the register asked, "Did you guys need help finding anything?'

"No, just browsing," Phil answered.

"We'll be back though," Dan added. He said, "What made you come up with Hopeful Books?"

"Oh," she smiled proudly. "My name is Carrie Hope Fletcher."

"Oh, that's cool!" Phil said with a grin. "Well, I'm Phil. This is Dan."

"Hi," Dan waved awkwardly.

"Well, its good to meet you guys," she said.

"Erm, same," Dan replied and Carrie laughed.

"We'll catch you later then," Phil said to her with a smile.

Afterwards, when Dan drove Phil back to where his truck was parked, Phil said, "she was so nice!"

"Yeah," Dan agreed. "Definitely have to go back sometime. What a collection of books!"

"I know!" Phil exclaimed excitedly.

* * *

Later in the week, on a Thursday, Dan found Carrie at Howell's arrangements in the early afternoon.

"Hey," he smiled.

She was looking over a colorful bouquet of flowers and looked up in surprise.

"So, it's Dan Howell then?"

"Yup," he replied. "Did you need anything?"

"Just something to put in a vase I have in the book store," she explained and turned back to the bouquet she was previously looking at. "I think this one," she said, and pulled it off the rack it was sitting in.

"Hey, this is sort of personal, but…," Carrie said, before she was leaving. "Are you and Phil…?"

"Oh," Dan said in surprise.

"I mean, you don't have to say anything," she added quickly. "You guys just looked like you had chemistry so I was wondering. That's all."

"Erm, yeah," Dan answered. "Phil is my- my boyfriend, I guess."

"You guess?" She teased.

"Er, well, I'm not totally used to saying that yet, honestly," he let out an awkward laugh.

"Oh, aw. Well, anyways, I'd better get back. I'll see you later, though!" She smiled brightly before leaving.

* * *

"You know what?" Phil said, one afternoon when Dan was at his house for the weekend. "I need to water the flowers."

"That might be a good idea," Dan replied with a hint of a smirk.

"I watered them yesterday too. I'm not being neglectful," he bantered playfully and stood. He gently threw a pillow in Dan's direction where he sat in Phil's recliner, hitting squarely in the face and knocking his book out of his hands.

"No, but you're definitely being abusive," he joked as he threw the pillow back towards Phil and missed.

"Come out front with me?" Phil asked.

"Sure," Dan said and put his book aside as he got up from the recliner.

Out front the air was breezy and cool, but the standing in the sun was warm and relaxing. Phil went and unwound the hose from where it hung near the water spout and with a sprinkle setting on the handle of the hose, began to soak the ground around the flowers until it was dark and moist.

"Our babies," Phil said proudly, dramatically putting a hand over his heart.

"And just when I thought you couldn't be any cheesier," Dan gave him a gentle push with the side of his own arm.

"You love it," Phil joked.

"Yeah, I kind of do," Dan laughed. Phil slipped an arm around Dan's waist and leaned into him for a moment.

"Anyway," Phil said after a moment. "Are you getting hungry yet?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Dan replied over-zealously, earning a laugh from Phil.

* * *

"Here," Phil said, tossing a spiral tablet in Dan's direction where he was lounging on Phil's bed later that night.

Dan pulled it closer to himself and quickly looked it over. The cover was plain, white cardboard and the paper's felt heavy. Dan asked, "What's this?'

"My sketch book," Phil said as he reclosed the desk drawer he'd pulled the sketch pad out of.

"Oh," Dan said.

"It's nothing special. But you wanted to see my drawings, so there they are," Phil said nonchalantly.

Dan flipped open the front page and found things like doodles similar to tattoos Phil had, different animals, artsy foliage, tribal doodles, and even more obscure things.

Then he happened upon a section full of faces. He had one of a woman and a man, and he realized they looked similar to Phil.

"Is this-?" Dan looked up in question.

"My parents," Phil nodded. "I don't do face tattoos, but I like drawing them."

"They're really good," Dan sat up as he continued to flip through the sketch pad. Then he found a drawing of himself.

Phil had portrayed him with a smile, dimpled and crinkly around the eyes.

"Wow," he mumbled.

"Oh, yeah, I drew you." Phil said sheepishly.

"It's amazing. Oh my god," Dan said in awe, looking over the picture and noticing the attention to detail.

"It's not that good. I didn't get the eyes quite right. I don't get to see them enough," Phil said, tacking on a slight teasing tone at the end.

"Are you saying I don't make a lot of eye contact?" Dan countered as he looked up.

"Maybe," Phil drawled humorously.

"Well, anyways," Dan said. "It's really good."

"Thanks," Phil said.

* * *

Over the course of a few weeks Dan and Phil were easily befriended by Carrie and vice versa.

She had such a kind smile and genuine personality that Dan gravitated to it easily. She'd been over to Phil's one day, and they had invited Dan over as well, but as he was arriving, Carrie decided to leave, saying that she'd feel like a third wheel. But she was always positive and her smile was infectious. And as well as Phil, she was a wonderful splash of positivity in Dan's life.

"Phil," Dan said exasperatedly, trying to ignore the tingle that ran down his spine from the way Phil's lips brushed his lips against the skin of his neck. "I'm trying to watch this."

"We've both seen it loads of times," Phil argued in a low voice as he ran a hand up Dan's side from behind him.

"Okay!" Dan laughed. "C'mon, seriously, that tickles!"

Phil laughed and then let his arms settle around Dan's waist. He put his arm over Phil's and then turned over.

"You're right, I've seen this one a lot," he said.

He ran his finger over the colors on Phil's arm. Phil took a deep breath and then shifted to rest his head on Dan's stomach.

"I can hear your stomach making noise," he whispered.

"What's it saying?" Dan whispered back jokingly.

"It says-, it says Phil is the greatest."

Dan laughed, and because of the way Phil had his head on Dan's stomach, he began to bounce and that caused the both of them to laugh even more vigorously.

"Oh my god," Dan cried out, trying to regain control of his diaphragm.

"Shh," Phil said as his movements slowed.

"What's it saying now?"

"It's saying that Phil cooked an amazing dinner," he replied quietly, earning a giggle from the other.

"It likes Phil's food," he said.

"Oh my god," Dan side with a wide grin. "That's amazing, Phil."

"It also says that Dan should give Phil a kiss," Phil said and looked at Dan through a grin and crinkled eyes.

"Erm, I'm not sure we should take advice from an organ designed to convert food into energy," Dan teased.

"I'm willing to take that chance," Phil bantered and he lifted himself up on his hands and knees to move within reach of Dan's lips and gently closed the distance between them.

Their lips moved together softly and Phil carefully brought the rest of his body to rest against Dan's. Dan's heart raced so quickly he was sure Phil should've been able to feel it. He broke the kiss to take a breath and Phil let out a breath as well and returned to laying his head on Dan's chest.

"Your heart is beating very fast," Phil said.

"Yeah," Dan breathed back. "You have that effect."

* * *

"Hey, when is your birthday?" Phil asked over the phone one evening.

"Why do you wanna know that?"

"For science," he answered.

"Uh huh," Dan replied.

"I'm curious, that's all," Phil said nonchalantly.

"Right," he drawled in disbelief.

"Well, maybe I want to get you something, okay? But I can't unless I know when it is," Phil explained.

"Well, it is coming up in a bit," Dan said and recited his birthday to Phil.

"Thank you. I just want to be able to do something for you for your birthday," he said.

"Well, thanks," Dan said. "Are you gonna give me any clues?"

"Dan, I _just_ found out when your birthday is," he said in exasperation.

"Okay," Dan sighed. "I guess I can wait."

"Well, I have one idea," Phil said.

"What?"

"Not telling," he teased.

"Damn it, Phil," Dan grumbled and Phil only laughed in return.

"So what are you doing?" Phil asked later that night.

"Just sitting up in bed," Dan replied. He was still in the clothes he had worn all day, but was sitting on his bed with his back resting against the wall.

"Is that all?" Phil asked.

"Yeah," Dan answered quietly. "What about you?"

"Erm, same," Phil laughed and Dan let out a small chuckle.

There was a long pause and Dan said, "It gets really quiet sometimes, you know."

Phil sighed.

"Anyways," Dan said. "Erm, it's kind of late. I should get some sleep. Have a good night?"

"Yeah," Phil said. "I'm kind of sleepy too. I'll talk to you later. 'Night."

"'Night."

Dan hung up the phone and then got up to place it on the charger on his dresser. He changed into his pajamas, and then climbed back into his bed. He managed to drift off easily and slept very soundly.


	11. Chapter 12

"So are you gonna tell me what you're planning yet or keep me in the dark?" Dan asked Phil when they were eating dinner one evening.

"Planning?" Phil asked him, and Dan was unsure if he was feigning innocence.

"My birthday," he replied flatly.

"Nothing really exciting," Phil said nonchalantly. "Maybe we'll just go out to eat or something."

"After all that fuss about finding out when it is?"

"Well, I got something for you," Phil said, then looked back to his plate. "But I don't want to spoil it until then."

"You don't even have to give me anything though," Dan said with a barely noticeable vehemence.

"Well, I wanted to. Plus, I've already bought it, so," Phil said, finishing his plate of food with a scrape of his fork. He looked up at Dan, expecting a response.

"Already bought what?"

"Nice try. I told you I'm not telling," Phil said with a smile. He got up from the table and then leaned down to kiss Dan before taking his plate to the kitchen.

Dan quickly finished his own plate and followed suit to help with the clean-up from dinner.

"So what do you feel like doing?" Phil asked as Dan rinsed and put his plate into the dishwasher.

"I dunno," Dan mumbled. He wiped his hands on a towel, set it aside next to the sink, and then turned towards Phil to wrap his arms around him.

"What are you doing?" Phil let out a small laugh, but returned the hug.

"Trying to have a moment. Jeez," Dan said in feigned exasperation and Phil giggled.

After a moment, Dan said, "thank you."

"For what?"

"Just… thank you," he said again.

"I'm kind of confused, but you're welcome," Phil replied as Dan stepped back

"Let's just watch something, yeah?" Dan suggested. "Just relax."

"Sure. Why don't you go pick one out while I finish this up?"

"Alright."

As Phil suggested Dan went down the hall and into the room where he sat on the floor near the foot the bed to look through the entertainment center cabinet.

"Did you find one?" Phil called as he was scanning the titles.

"Not yet," Dan looked up to see Phil jumping across the bed and plopping down onto his stomach with a wide smile. He blinked at the fast movement, but smiled before finding a movie that he'd never seen before and passing it to Phil.

Phil swung his legs around and got up to put the movie in before returning to his spot. Dan climbed up onto the bed beside him and folded his arms beneath his chin while Phil propped himself up with his chin cupped in his hands.

Throughout the movie they restlessly shifted around from their initial resting place on their stomachs, to Dan lying horizontally to the television with Phil's head on his belly, which was something he was making a habit of.

As the film credits began rolling, Dan said, "That was a good one," and put an arm beneath his head.

"Yeah," Phil agreed.

He looked down at Phil for a moment, who let his tongue peak out of the corner of his mouth at Dan and turned his head quickly.

Dan let out a small laugh. "Dork," he murmured.

"Just a little bit," he said and Dan took a breath. The rise and fall of his chest lifted Phil's head.

They were silent for a few moments, save for their slow breathing that began to sync up.

"Whatever you do, Phil," Dan said when Phil turned his head to look up at him. "Don't ask me what I'm thinking about."

Phil replied, "Why not?" with a smile, as he lifted himself up on his arms to look at Dan.

"Because that'd be way too cheesy," he said and Phil laughed, kissed him, then sat up to stop the movie, which by the point had run partway through the credits.

"You wanna pick out another movie?" Phil asked him from where he sat on the edge of the bed.

"It's your turn," Dan said.

"Hm… I'd rather just watch you," Phil said flirtatiously.

"Ha ha, okay," was Dan's response. "Just put something on. I really don't care what we watch or do, Phil. I just really like being around you."

"Okay."

Phil quite literally picked a movie at random and put that on, then returned to lying with Dan.

He leaned up at one point, saying, "I'm not really paying attention to be honest," and kissed Dan, who responded eagerly.

"I really love kissing you," Phil breathed out when he pulled back from the kiss.

"I do too," Dan said, just as softly.

Phil kissed him once more and then laid his head on Dan's chest. He watched the pictures on the television move, but listened to the sound of his breathing and the steady thrum of his heart.

* * *

"So, is there any specific place you'd like to go for dinner or have me make for dinner? Or even just, like, a favorite dessert or something?" Phil asked Dan as they moved closer to his birthday.

"Er, well, I don't care, really," Dan replied. "Whatever you feel like doing is fine. Like we could just have cake or something and I'd be happy with that."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'll keep cake in mind. But, I still wanna do something a bit nicer than that," Phil said conversationally.

"Isn't there already something else you got me though?"

"Well, yeah, but aside from that."

"I mean, if you really want to do something, Phil, that's okay. But I'd honestly be content with just eating whatever and having something good for dessert," Dan said.

"Okay. Well, I'll think of something good then."

"Sounds good."

"So, what should I make for your birthday?" Dan's mother asked over the phone on the first weekend afternoon of July.

"Oh, er, I have plans that night," Dan said, and it suddenly occurred to him that they were unaware of his relationship with Phil.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, erm, a friend of mine-, we're hanging out that night."

"Are they a girl?"

"What?"

"Your dad wants to know if she's pretty," his mom teased.

"Mum!"

His mother laughed and they made plans for Dan to come over for dinner a few nights after his birthday plans with Phil. He still managed to dodge sharing that information with them. However, he knew he'd have to tell them eventually.

* * *

On the night of Dan's birthday Phil picked up Dan from his house and brought him back to his own for dinner.

Carrie and Tyler had been in the living room, sipping sodas and watching a movie, waiting for the other two to arrive.

"What are you two doing here?" Dan asked in surprised when he arrived at Phil's with him.

"Phil invited us," Tyler explained while Carrie smiled brightly. Dan noticed that Tyler had another tattoo on his arm and he assumed Phil must have done it for him.

"Yeah, I thought it'd be fun if they hung out tonight. Carrie helped cook and Tyler brought some snacks."

"Wow, its good to see you guys," Dan said with a wide grin.

The both of them offered him happy birthday wishes and he thanked them in return. The four of them sat through a movie while occasionally snacking and chatting, then decided to eat dinner.

After they ate, they sat down in the living room again and Carrie passed a metallic, reflective, red gift bag with white tissue paper to Dan.

"So Phil said you wouldn't have been bothered if we didn't get you anything, but Tyler and I decided to go ahead and get you this," she explained as Dan took the bag from her.

"He was right, but thank you," Dan said awkwardly. "Really."

With a blush caused by being the center of attention in Phil's living room, Dan picked through the tissue paper to find a book he'd been looking at in Carrie's shop, but put off buying it himself.

"Wow, thank you! This is awesome!" He smiled widely and looked down at the book fondly.

He put it aside, and then got up to hug them both while they replied with variations of, "You're welcome, Dan!"

While they each had a slice of the cheesecake Carrie made, they praised her for doing an excellent job on it and stayed to help clean up most of the mess from dinner. Eventually Phil jokingly sent them out, insisting that they didn't need to help and they decided to head home for the night. They both wished Dan and Phil a goodnight and said goodbye.

"So," Phil said, after he had walked the other two to the door. "Now, I have to give you my gift."

"Erm, okay," Dan said from the couch.

"C'mon," Phil gestured for him to follow.

Dan got up and nervously followed him down the hall to his bedroom. Phil sat at his desk and Dan did the same, lowering himself to the edge of the bed. He watched Phil uncertainly as he slid open a desk drawer and brought out a small envelope with, "Dan," written across the front in loopy letters.

"What is it?" Dan asked.

"Just open it."

"Okay," he mumbled, unsure of what to expect. He carefully tore the envelope open along the top and reached in. When he caught sight of one end of what was contained in the envelope he looked up at Phil with a deadpan expression.

"You didn't." His eyes darted from between both of Phil's in disbelief as his heart rate jumped.

He looked back down at the envelope, at the partially revealed tickets and pulled them further out. With wide eyes he looked over the letters in disbelief and then with an excited laugh he said, "Oh my god! Muse?! This had to have cost a fortune."

Phil smiled again and said, "Well, I've been saving up for a concert for a while anyways. And I know you like Muse, so I thought it'd be a good opportunity."

"I can't believe it," Dan looked over the words several times.

"Well, believe it," Phil said anticlimactically. "I know it's not coming up for a while, bu-."

Phil was cut off when Dan put his arms around him and held onto him as tightly as he ever did.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, oh my god, thank you. You didn't even have to-, I mean-, just-, thank you."

"You're welcome," Phil said with a sigh and returned the hug. "And seriously, don't worry about the money. It's not for a while, so I got it at a good price."

"It's just-, wow. Seriously, this is incredible," Dan said softly as he pulled away from the hug. "It's gonna be a blast, oh my god."

"I know!" Phil said. "I seriously can't wait. So go ahead and hang onto them until we go. We'll make a whole day out of it and everything."

"Thank you, this is truly so incredible," Dan said again as he slid the tickets back into the envelope and passed it over to Phil to sit on the desk for the time being.

"It's really not much," Phil said with an awkward laugh.

"Yeah it is. You've given me so much already, Phil. I'm just happy to know you, you know." Dan said, feeling a rising tightness in his throat. "Just being with you today was happy birthday enough."

"But you've given me something too," Phil said and Dan looked up at him in confusion. "Someone to love."

"Phil," Dan whispered.

"I love you, Dan," Phil said.

Phil leaned over to cup Dan's cheek in his hand and kiss him and Dan reached up to reciprocate.

"I love you, too," he said when Phil pulled back for a moment. Phil tenderly ran a thumb over Dan's bottom lip before going in for another kiss. Only, this kiss was much more intense and needy and Phil got up from his chair, while Dan angled his head up.

Following Phil's lead with a racing heart and shaking hands, he scooted back onto the bed. He allowed Phil to bring a hand up his thigh, hitching it over his waist and god, he wanted this so badly that it terrified him, but in every single way he wasn't ready and before he realized it he was pushing Phil away and gasping his name.

"I'm sorry!" Phil said quickly. In the blink of an eye, he was at the opposite side of the bed, but was now on his hands and knees, reaching out for Dan again.

Dan gulped nervously and righted himself to sit up with one leg hanging off the edge of the bed. He looked at Phil with wide eyes.

"I'm sorry," Phil said again. "I didn't mean to-," he stopped, unsure of what to say.

Dan didn't say anything for a long moment, but then said quietly, "Do you mind taking me home, Phil?"

"Sure," Phil said quietly. He got up from the bed and Dan followed him out of the house, grabbing his keys and the red gift bag, from where it was still sitting in the living room, on the way.

Over the twenty-minute drive, Dan stared ahead with determination, while Phil occasionally glanced over. He didn't know what to say to Phil now.

When Phil stopped in front of Dan's house, he moved to hop out and walk him to the door, but Dan said, "'Night, Phil," and quickly stepped out of the truck and up to the house.

After he had walked inside the house and shut the door, he wondered if he had made the wrong decision in leaving, but knew he couldn't reverse it. He didn't know what else to do, or what he should have said.

He climbed the stairs and crawled into bed, reasoning that because he had to go to the shop in the morning, he ought to get some sleep.


	12. Chapter 13

Dan slept fitfully that night, tossing and turning and woke up feeling worse than when he did when he first put his head against the pillow. With a thermos full of coffee he arrived at the shop first thing in the morning and wondered why he never thought to have a coffee maker set up in the office.

When Louise arrived she cheerfully said good morning, but then said, "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah," he answered.

"Was your birthday okay?" She asked with eyebrows knitted in concern.

"It was fine. I dunno. I don't feel like talking about it right now," Dan mumbled as he reached for his thermos and took a swig of coffee.

"Okay. Well, if you do decide you want to talk about it, I'll listen, okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Louise."

Dan finished his coffee as Louise began her morning tasks and then went into the greenhouse to take care of the plants. Despite feeling drained, spending the morning in the greenhouse soothed him and he could calmly run through the previous day's events again.

He and Phil both voiced their love to each other.

He remembered that moment, unable to hold back a smile or deny the way his heart swelled and upon the realization that he really messed up the night before, his smile fell.

He was already dying to see Phil, to touch him again, but didn't know what he was supposed to say after that or what kind of message it sent.

* * *

Dan made the long journey to his parents the following weekend and sat through a painfully awkward dinner.

"So what did you do the night of your birthday?"

"Just had dinner with a couple friends," Dan said as he took a bite of his food in order to avoid giving any further information.

"That sounds nice," his mom said.

"Yeah."

Dan decided to distract from any more vital information by sharing that Hopeful Books started up next to the tattoo parlor. Small talk has become something that, while extremely boring for him, was also really easy to utilize in order to keep from sharing more than he wished. His parents remained unaware of his relationship with Phil. Although, he was having troubling discerning where they stood as it'd been an entire week since they talked and didn't want to say anything to his parents in case things changed.

He'd seen Phil walking passed the flower shop earlier in the week, and upon sight of him he peered out of the window with a jump in his heart rate.

But they carried on like this for a few weeks and Dan grew more and more somber, and even more uncertain of what to do to resolve this distance.

He considered going into the tattoo shop, and could only picture a disaster happening.

" _Hey, Phil. It's been like three weeks and we haven't spoken a word. How have you been?"_ He shook his head at his own stupidity.

At times like this, he cursed himself for not learning how to be anything other than casual. He held on to some sort of hope that maybe Phil would reach out, because this was so difficult for him.

And god, he just missed Phil so much. He was craving his touch, the sound of his voice and the sight of his beautiful smile.

However, the phone rang after a long month of silence and Dan finally heard Phil's voice on his answering machine, saying, "Hey Dan. I, erm-, I'm not sure if you want to even talk to me right now. I just thought maybe I'd give you some space or something, but erm, you left the Muse tickets here on your birthday and I really want you to have them. I er, I guess that's it. I'd also really like to talk to you again. So er," Phil paused. "Yeah."

The line went dead after that and all in the same moment, Dan processed how monotone Phil sounded, how angry he was at himself for causing it, and the sound of raining glass when he flung a dish against the wall.

He had to fix this.

He abandoned the mess and with no idea of what to expect when he arrived, he quickly left the house to go to Phil's.

He made sure to knock clearly and it wasn't a long wait before Phil was pulling the door open.

"Dan?" Phil said in surprise. He looked over his form, as if expecting him to have some sort of injury.

Dan didn't know what to say. He dropped his gaze as though he could find a response in the tile beneath Phil's feet.

"Er, do you want to come in?" Phil asked uncertainly.

"Yeah," he breathed out and then repeated more clearly, "Yeah."

Phil stepped aside and let Dan pass before shutting the door behind him. Phil led the way to the living room and sat in the recliner so Dan opted to sit on the couch.

"I got your message," Dan said.

"Oh."

Neither of them spoke for a long moment.

"Should I grab the-."

"I'm sorry."

Phil stopped speaking as Dan uttered his apology and he nearly laughed. "Why are you apologizing?"

Dan shifted nervously.

"I-," he began hastily. "I don't know what else to say. I should've said something sooner, but I didn't know what to do. I thought you didn't want to talk to me, or something. I shouldn't have been such an ass. I mean, you were nothing but gentle and I got all freaked out for no reason and just-, I'm sorry. I'm so pissed at myself for letting this happen like this."

"Hey, don't apologize. It takes two to tango, you know," Phil let out an awkward laugh but then added more seriously, "I thought maybe you needed space or something."

"I'm so tired of having space, Phil."

"What do you mean?"

"All my life I've been alone. And I was totally okay with that until I met you. I love you, Phil. And this passed, god, what's it been, a month? Has been absolute hell. But I didn't know what to do after-, after what happened because I got so scared."

Gently, Phil replied, "All you have to do, Dan, is say if you need me to slow down or anything. You know that, right?"

"I do. I was just really scared. I was afraid to say the wrong thing."

"There's nothing wrong you could say. I just want you to say whatever you have to say," Phil said. "Especially if you need me to slow down."

"Okay. Thank you for being so understanding," Dan said quietly.

"No need to thank me. What kind of person would I be if I got pissed about this," Phil said with an incredulous laugh.

"Er, a major asshole," Dan replied lamely and Phil let out a chuckle which in turn pulled a bit of laughter from the other as well.

"I really missed you," Dan admitted when they sobered up.

"I did too," Phil replied quietly and opened his arms. "Come here."

Dan slipped off the couch and into the recliner where he settled into Phil's lap with one leg on the floor and the other laying over Phil's.

"I love you," Phil said to him as he laid his head against Dan's shoulder. "All you have to do is tell me if I'm moving too quickly."

"I know. And I do want to-," Dan paused, hoping Phil would understand his insinuation. "But I'm just really scared."

"It's not just about who's topping or whatever," Phil said. "I'd make sure it'd be good for you too."

"I know."

They didn't say anything else, or kiss, after that but just held onto each other for a few long minutes.

* * *

"Is this okay?" Phil asked as he held himself over Dan with his forearms at either side of his head, as if he were shielding him.

"Yeah," Dan breathed out and Phil brought their lips back together.

Phil pulled back from their slow kiss, pecked him once more, and then crawled downwards. He slipped his hands beneath Dan's shirt, pushing it up a few inches.

"What are you-?" Dan asked, pushing himself up by one hand to look at Phil.

"I just want to touch you," Phil explained as he settled on his stomach between Dan's open legs. "I just want to feel you, feel your skin."

Dan laid his head back on the bed with fluttering eyes and let out a breath as Phil splayed his hands out across his skin.

"That okay?" Phil asked.

"Yeah," Dan whispered with his eyes still shut. "It feels nice."

Phil continued to run his hands along Dan's skin, up his sides, along his ribs and over his stomach for a few long moments before he pulled his shirt back to its original place and rested his head there.

"I just love being close to you," he said quietly.

"I do too," Dan replied just as softly.


	13. Chapter 14

On the day of the Muse concert, Dan had to be at the flower shop, but opted to have the day afterwards off as the concert would be running late into the night.

"I'm so excited," he said to Louise that morning after she had asked how he was.

"Oh yeah?" she said, tilting her head in interest.

"Yeah," Dan looked away from the computer for a moment. "Phil and I are going to see Muse tonight."

"No way! That's awesome," Louise exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Yeah," he agreed. "He's going to come get me after work and I'm staying at his tonight."

"I hope you have fun!" Louise said as she attached her name tag to her shirt.

"It should be," Dan said, before Louise left him to handle e-mails and other paperwork.

After he got through his paperwork, he spent some time in the greenhouse and around their lunch hour, he and Louise went to get sub sandwiches from a nearby shop.

At the end of the day, after Louise had gone home, he wrapped up his reports and left the shop quickly in order to get home and ready himself for the concert.

Once at home he showered, blow-dried and straightened his hair. To wear, he chose a Muse t-shirt as well as one of his nicer pairs of jeans and a set of converse shoes.

Phil called close to seven and asked, "Hey, are you almost ready?"

"Yes. I'm so excited."

"Okay, I'll be there soon."

"See you soon."

Dan decided to bring a sweater to wear in the event that he should grow cold during dinner or at the concert, so he had that hanging over his arm when he and Phil walked out to his truck.

They had decided on having dinner at a Japanese restaurant across town beforehand and spent the twenty minute journey to the restaurant excitedly discussing the latest Muse album.

"Okay, but we can't play any of their music yet," Phil said when Dan mentioned his favorite song from the album.

"Why not?" Dan asked, his smile faltering for a moment.

"Because we want to be in optimal Muse-listening mood when we get there," Phil explained matter-of-factly.

"Good point," Dan said with a grin.

The Japanese restaurant was decorated accordingly and had an atmosphere that made Dan feel as though he might have been in Japan for a moment. There was a fountain in the center of the restaurant and with the low lighting he could easily picture being next to a stream.

He and Phil were led by a small dark-haired woman to a booth with black leather seats and a granite table top and they ordered soda to begin with.

They spent a few minutes looking over the menu and Phil hummed thoughtfully. Over the top of his menu, he looked at Dan and asked, "Have you ever tried fried calamari?"

"Isn't that squid?" Dan asked as he lowered his own menu.

"Yeah. Do you want to try it? I kind of want to try it," Phil looked at his menu again.

"I'll try it if you do," Dan decided.

"Okay. Calamari it is then," he said, more to himself and then continued to look over the menu.

A few minutes later their server approached their table and they bravely ordered the calamari along with the other dishes they ordered. They gave their menus to their server before they walked away and the two of them settled more comfortably in their seats.

"This place is cool," Dan said as he looked around appreciatively.

"Yeah," Phil agreed. "I was hoping you'd like it."

"I do. Definitely," Dan said.

Phil made a comment about the fountain and he agreed, saying, "Yeah, it's pretty."

The calamari, along with their soda refills, was brought to their table after a short wait and they were also told that their main course would be brought out to them soon.

"Okay, here we go," Phil said as he reached for one of the breaded and fried rings of calamari.

Dan laughed as Phil dramatized an expression of fear and reached for a bit of calamari as well. They both dipped the food into the restaurant's house sauce before simultaneously biting into it.

"That," Dan paused, then said, "Is actually quite good."

"Yeah, I'm surprised. It's almost just like an onion ring," Phil replied.

They grazed over the calamari before their food was brought to them and remained quiet throughout the rest of the meal, enjoying their food comfortably. After they finished their meal they used the restroom, paid for the food and service, and left the restaurant to begin the journey to the concert hall.

"Seriously," Dan said when they were in his truck again. "This has really already been such a nice night so far. Thank you."

Phil laughed, glanced over at Dan and said, "No problem. Honestly, it really isn't much. I'm just glad to be able to do it for you, you know."

"I know, but still," Dan said.

"I know," Phil replied quietly.

Phil made sure to schedule things so that they could arrive in the queue for the concert early enough to allow them to find their seats early and get settled. They were seated in just the right spot that allowed them to see the entire stage, but also see the band really well.

"This place is huge," Dan said, looking around and up to the ceiling of the concert hall in awe.

"Yeah, I know."

"This is so exciting."

When Muse came onto the stage the entire audience cheered and 'ahh'ed in enthusiasm. Dan and Phil, along with most of the audience, sang along to the many of the songs and if he was being really cheesy, he would have said it was magical. To synchronize with hundreds of other people and see an amazing, creative band up close all tied together with colorful lights and experiencing it with Phil was like nothing else.

When the concert ended Dan was on a high with a constant grin and Phil's happy expression mirrored his. They waited for most of the crowd to clear out before making their own way out of the concert hall.

"That was incredible," Dan said to Phil as they walked closer to Phil's truck.

"Yeah, it was," Phil agreed with a smile.

Dan nodded off in the passenger seat of Phil's truck over the long journey back to his home. Phil felt slightly guilty, knowing Dan must have been up early that morning so he didn't tease him for falling asleep and lowered the volume on the radio.

When Phil pulled into his driveway, he parked and got out of the truck. He walked around to Dan's side and pulled the door. Dan stirred and sucked in a deep breathe.

"Hey, sleepyhead," Phil said quietly.

"Hey," Dan murmured back to him.

"We're home," Phil said. He reached to undo Dan's seatbelt for him and took his hand as he sleepily stepped down from the truck. Phil collected Dan's duffel bag from the back seat as well and slung it over his shoulder.

They walked up to the house together and went down the hall to Phil's room. Dan changed into his pajamas before collapsing onto Phil's bed and was joined by the other soon after.

"Thank you for such an amazing night, Phil," Dan sleepily mumbled to Phil as he pulled the blanket over the both of them.

"You're welcome, Dan," Phil replied. He leaned over and kissed Dan's temple, as the rest of his face was pressed adorably to his pillow.

Dan slept for much longer than Phil had, but this allowed him to start a pot of coffee and begin making breakfast as Dan woke up.

When Dan emerged from the bedroom and went into the kitchen he made himself a cup of coffee and perched himself atop one of the bar stools. He murmured a reply in response to Phil's cheerful, "Good morning!"

Phil made Dan a plate of food, before sitting beside him with his own and they ate quietly as Dan slowly grew more alert.

"Yummy breakfast," he remarked to Phil.

"Glad you like it," Phil replied.

"What do you feel like doing today?" Phil asked after they had cleaned up from breakfast.

"I dunno," Dan said thoughtfully.

They had settled on playing a video game after redressing for the day and spent the morning with controllers in their hands.

At one point when Dan grew restless he and Phil decided to spend a few minutes on the front porch where they watered the flowers.

"They've been doing so well here. I'm really glad," Dan said as he crouched to look at them more closely.

"Yeah," Phil agreed with a bright smile.

They ate lunch together as well that day, and spent the afternoon lounging in Phil's bedroom with a movie running. At one point Phil was drawing with the movie as background noise while Dan watched, or Dan read while Phil did a bit of cleaning around the house.

Dan was happy.

Not that he had been particularly depressed before meeting Phil, but there was something he loved about someone else just being there. And he loved being with Phil more than anyone else. Something about Phil energized him, whereas he normally felt as though he needed to hide away after spending long periods of time with others. He craved his company even.

When Phil had returned to his room from tidying up the kitchen he crawled onto the bed where Dan was lounging and leaned in to kiss him.

"Hey," Dan whispered to him.

"Hi," Phil replied with a small laugh. "What do you feel like having for dinner?"

"Hm, not sure. Maybe a stir-fry?"

"Sounds good to me," Phil said before giving him another peck and getting things ready for dinner.

After they had eaten and showered they settled in Phil's room for the night with a movie. When Phil cuddled up to Dan with his head resting on his chest he reached down and pushed Phil's hair back off of his face, creating a quiff.

"Hey!" Phil exclaimed. "You messed up my fringe."

Dan laughed as Phil sat up to readjust his hair.

"Not funny," Phil said.

"Yeah it is," Dan said with a smirk. "Come here."

Abandoning his unruly hair, Phil leant down to kiss Dan, who pulled him closer. Phil put a hand at Dan's hip, much like he had done many nights ago, but this time Dan invited it and wrapped both legs around him.

"Dan," Phil said as he pulled back and pushed himself up onto his hands.

"I want you," Dan replied in explanation. He reached up to cup the back of Phil's neck and brought him close for another kiss.

Dan had decided he could share this part of himself with Phil. He let Phil beneath his clothes and beneath his skin to touch, tease, taste and bring his body to full arousal. Phil did what was necessary for there to be as little pain as possible for Dan.

Dan let him in this way, and Phil wanted to give him the best experience he possibly could. However, they both knew that no matter what Phil did there would be still pain, if only a little. And when there was he did his best to distract him by kissing, holding and massaging the bits of flesh he could comfortably reach. Dan held onto Phil until the pain passed and pleasure took over and it couldn't have more perfect than he imagined. Phil focused on Dan more than he expected, but knew he shouldn't have ever doubted that.

Phil held him for a very long time before collecting a small, warm towel to clean them both up and Dan felt so naked as he lay above the covers in front of Phil.

His face grew intensely hot, and he said to Phil, "Was I-, I mean-, you-, it was good right?"

"Dan, it was perfect," Phil replied as he noticed Dan's blush.

Dan shifted in chagrin and pulled the edge of the blanket towards himself.

"Hey, you don't have to hide," Phil said gently, putting the towel aside. "I think you're beautiful. Sexy. Adorable."

"I just-, I've never been naked in front of anyone, Phil," Dan explained. "Thank you for the compliments though."

"You're welcome," Phil said and decided to crawl beneath the blanket and bring it up and over Dan as well.

"It really was perfect," Dan said after Phil had moved over to cuddle up to him.

"I tried to make sure it was good for you," he replied, running his finger tips over his skin.

"Thank you for that," Dan said softly.

"It was the least I could do," Phil replied. "It was your first time."

He and Phil kissed for a few minutes before they decided to let sleep take them for the night.


	14. Chapter 15

On Sunday morning Dan awoke feeling serene and somehow simultaneously very sore. When he shifted, he let out a deep groan and Phil's soft snores came to a stop. He turned back onto his stomach, where the pain was more bearable.

"Dan?" Phil mumbled from beside Dan. Dan looked around to find Phil moving up to snuggle.

"Morning, Phil," he replied.

"Morning," Phil said through a sleepy smile. "How are you?"

"Er, I'm actually a little sore," Dan admitted, remaining on his stomach.

"I'm sorry," Phil said, his smile falling. He cleared the grogginess from his throat and adjusted the blanket around Dan's shoulders before running a hand up and down his back soothingly.

"It's not your fault," Dan said, shutting his eyes against the pleasant sensation of Phil's skin on his.

"I still feel kind of bad. I wish you didn't hurt," he said quietly.

"Eh," Dan said. "Kind of worth it to be honest."

Phil let out a small chuckle at that and then leaned up to kiss Dan's cheek. He continued to run his fingers up and down Dan's back, sending tingles of sweet pleasure throughout his body. Dan could've easily fallen back to sleep.

"What do you want for breakfast?" Phil asked him, his voice low, just before pressing a kiss to his bare shoulder.

"Erm, we can just do cereal or something," Dan said. "I'm not really hungry just yet though."

Phil's lips brushed Dan's skin in the softest way, and he sucked in a deep breath.

"Alright," Phil said, continuing to massage and kiss Dan's skin.

At one point, Phil said, "You have a cute little butt," with a smile, while Dan was still lying on his stomach. "And cute little back dimples."

"Phil," Dan laughed.

"I only speak the truth," he replied, laughing as well.

They spent most of the day like this, in bed, just enjoying each other's company and learning more about their bodies. They simply touched and took their time to look under the light of day, trusting each other with their insecurities.

* * *

After that weekend, there was an undertone of sexual energy lying just under the surface of everything they did, even though they hadn't done anything more than kiss, however heated it became, since. It wasn't as though they were pretending it hadn't happened, nor had it changed things drastically.

If anything, they were even more easy-going around each other. Only, their flirty looks and touches took on a more intimate feel. Their touches were less shy and hinting, but more loving and sensual.

This showed in the way Dan didn't hesitate to let Phil slip his hands beneath his shirt at night, simply to feel his warm, soft, bare skin or the way he'd run a hand up his sexily jean-clad thigh.

However, as weeks passed, the sexual energy became more palpable, that Dan could taste it in every kiss and he wanted more.

"Hey," Phil said into

* * *

the phone one Saturday afternoon. "You feel like staying over tonight?"

"I'd love to," Dan said.

"I'll come get you if you like," Phil offered.

"I don't mind driving. It'll save you the gas money and stuff, anyway," he reasoned.

"When should I expect you then?"

"Er, at 7:30," Dan said, glancing at the clock on his oven which displayed the time in electric, green letters. That gave him enough time to shower and redress, as he had not since long returned from the flower shop.

"Great," Phil said brightly. "I'll see you then."

They ate dinner together, mainly enjoying each other's presence and not feeling the pressure to speak.

Dan helped Phil tidy the kitchen as well, finding deep pleasure in the way Phil would put a hand at his lower back if he needed to reach around him.

"Did you know chocolate releases the same chemical in your brain that kissing does?" Phil said to Dan as they sat up in his bed, as a commercial for chocolate was displayed on his television screen. "Just a random fact for you."

"That was very educational, Phil. Thank you," Dan replied, nodding with mock-enthusiasm and Phil let out a laugh.

"Well, I mean, I was just saying," Phil said, putting his hands out with a shrug.

"What's the name of the neurotransmitter?"

"Well, I think, it's serotonin, bu-."

"You think?"

"I just know it stimulates the pleasure center in the brain or something," Phil said, letting out another laugh and Dan chuckled with a dimpled smile.

The commercial ended, and Dan shot a sidelong glance at Phil. He seemed oblivious to the direction Dan's mind had quickly headed down.

He turned to Phil, who looked at him uncertainly as he carefully and boldly brought a long leg around to straddle Phil. In response, Phil put his hands at Dan's hips, squeezing lightly.

Dan leaned in and pressed his lips to Phil's, eliciting a soft moan from him.

Phil wrapped his arms tightly around Dan, who shifted once and the friction it caused made a shudder run through him.

Phil broke the kiss to leave more down his neck and Dan let his head loll to the side, allowing Phil further access to his skin. Dan rolled his hips once more, before Phil pulled back for a breath.

"Why would anyone choose chocolate over kissing?" Dan said quietly.

"Hell if I know," Phil said and suddenly tightened his grip around Dan to rock forward and lay him down on his back.

Dan had quickly become insatiable for Phil, and he absolutely loved it. Phil loved this side of Dan, the way he moved and moaned with abandon beneath his touch, without any restraint or fear of the pleasure Phil could bring him. It was erotic, beautiful, and in its own way, pure. Dan deserved to feel good, to be unrestrained and feel loved. And the loving energy remained in every single touch, kiss, shudder, or roll of their hips.

* * *

"So," Phil said one evening as he sat down across from Dan with a plate of food after Dan had taken his own place opposite him. "I have an offer to make you."

"Er, okay," Dan said uncertainly.

"I wasn't sure if I should have made like, an event out of it or anything, but, I can't expect you to say yes right away. So, I'll just put it out there I guess," Phil paused, nervous and Dan looked up in expectation. He finally said, "I'd like to invite you to live with me, Dan."

"Oh, er," Dan's eyebrows knitted and he looked down at his plate.

Phil continued hastily. "I mean, you already do spend a lot of time here and I love it when you're here. And I just really would love to share my home and my life with you. I'm not expecting you to answer now or anything, but just-, if you decide to say yes, or no for that matter, whether its tomorrow, a week from now, or another six months from now, the offer stands."

"That's erm-, that's big, Phil," Dan finally said after a long moment.

"I know, but my feelings for you are big," Phil said with an animated gesture and Dan grinned as well.

"Just give me a night to sleep on it, yeah?" Dan said after another moment.

"Absolutely. However long it takes for you to decide, I'll wait. I mean, it doesn't even have to be a solid offer. Just a thought. An idea. Like, I just want you to know that I'd be glad to live with you at some point, if you'd like to. Absolutely no pressure or anything," Phil said, his hands moving as he spoke.

"Okay," Dan said, but smiled. "I do like that idea. But I'm comfortable with the way things are right now."

"Okay. Like I said, no pressure or anything," Phil said again.

"I know," Dan said. "I love you, Phil."

"I love you too, Dan," Phil said with a smile before they continued with their meal.

That night, Dan chose to return to his own house after they had eaten dinner together. And as he lay in bed, the other side cold and empty, he decided that at one point, he would definitely love to share a home with Phil.


	15. Chapter 16

"Phil," Dan said through gritted teeth and with eyes clenched shut.

"What?" Phil said, looking up at Dan in concern where he was sitting, straddling him with knees bent high.

"Sorry," he grunted. "Just-, this is giving me a leg cramp."

"Oh!" Phil said, eyes widening. Carefully, he sat up, and gently pulled Dan's legs to a more relaxed position. "Is that better?"

"Yeah," Dan breathed out and put his hands at Phil's shoulders.

"Sorry," Phil said, carefully holding him up.

"No, it's not your fault," Dan replied, resting his chin on Phil's shoulder, still breathing heavily. "I'm just a bit embarrassed now."

"Don't worry," Phil said, leaning back slightly to look at Dan and push a short, but sweaty lock of hair back. He brought their lips together for a moment. "It's about your comfort."

"I know, but I know you wanted to try-," Dan cut himself off, feeling heat rise to his cheeks. "That," he finally finished.

"We can try it again another time," Phil said. "We were in the middle of something anyways."

Dan couldn't help but let out a shy smile, but then Phil moved in him and any amusement he previously experienced was forgotten.

* * *

Dan sat at the wheeled chair by Phil's desk in the back of the tattoo parlor. Phil had music playing from his computer as he got his tools ready to give Tyler a tattoo.

Dan had decided to sit with Phil and watch him work one day. When Phil asked why, he only said, "Curious. That's all."

Which was true, but every time he saw the intense lion on Phil's back, or the colorful, artistic designs on his arms, he wondered what his skin would look like if it were decorated similarly.

"So what are you doing?" Dan asked Phil as he wiped Tyler's left shoulder blade with an alcohol wipe as a precaution.

"I'm getting two of the male signs on my back," Tyler answered with a grin.

"Like, for pride?" Dan asked.

Tyler hummed in confirmation then let out a hiss as Phil began, the tattoo gun filling the room with a buzz.

"Does it hurt?" Dan asked with a slight grimace watching as Phil skillfully brought the needle to Tyler's skin, occasionally wiping away any blood that surfaced.

"Just a bit," Tyler said. He sat with his eyes shut, occasionally wincing.

"Would you ever get a tattoo, Dan?" Tyler asked him as Phil progressed with the outline of the tattoo.

"Maybe," Dan said thoughtfully. "But I don't know what I'd get."

"Get a flower," Tyler suggested with a smile. "It's fitting. You're a florist after all."

"True," Dan agreed with a grin.

"What do you think, Phil?" Tyler fluttered his eyes open with a slightly mischievous look. "Dan would look good with a bit of ink, huh?"

"A tattoo would be er, something," Phil said distractedly. He glanced up at Dan, a smirk playing at his lips. Phil continued, "If he decided to get one that's up to him, but I would definitely agree that it would look awesome."

"That'd be kind of hot, Phil," Tyler teased. "You giving Dan a tattoo."

"I don't know about that," Phil replied with a laugh, pausing to wipe away a bit of blood.

Dan's cheeks grew warm but awkwardly, he said, "I'd be too busy complaining about the pain for it to be, er, sexy, probably."

"I'd be too worried about causing you any pain," Phil agreed with a small chuckle, but he glanced over at Dan, an intense look in his eye. He blinked and refocused on Tyler's tattoo.

"Hey, you never know. Some people have pain kinks," Tyler said in a comedic, matter-of-fact tone.

Dan laughed and said, "Okay," but he shifted uncomfortably, slipping his hands between his knees and rubbing them together.

"What about you, Dan? Any kinks or positions you like?" Tyler asked, looking at him. He was being harmless, he knew, but then, to his mortification, Phil went on to quickly explain that he and Dan made an attempt for a new position. Only, Dan had gotten a leg cramp and they decided not to in the end.

Heat gathered to his cheeks much more intensely than before and he gritted his teeth.

Phil looked up at Dan and opened his mouth to speak, but he interrupted him and said, "You know what? I'll talk to you guys later."

Dan stood abruptly, left the back of the tattoo parlor, passed the dark haired girl who'd recently began working there to help Phil and left the shop entirely. Phil had called out to him once, but had to finish the beginnings of Tyler's tattoo before he could do anything else.

As soon as he completed the tattoo Phil headed home, intending to call Dan. When Dan picked up he answered, "Hey, Phil."

"Hey, what happened?" Phil asked Dan.

"Nothing. Just needed to get home," he only offered in explanation.

"Okay then," Phil said, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"So how did the rest of Tyler's tattoo go?" Dan asked.

"It was fine," Phil said. "The outline is done."

Phil went on to explain that later in the week he would fill in the rest of the tattoo, which was the bulk of the process. They spent not much longer than a half hour talking, before Dan decided to make himself dinner and settle in for the night.

* * *

Later in the week, Dan went to Phil's for dinner upon the invitation and they decided to bake a cake for dessert. Dan managed to forget, for the most part, about that bit of information that he would much rather have had remain between the two of them, that was shared with Tyler. He reasoned that maybe it wasn't a big deal, and that it shouldn't bother him, but he still couldn't deny the discomfort he felt when he thought of how casually Phil let that out.

"We're going to make cake from a box?" Dan asked, when Phil first suggested it and brought out the mix.

"Yeah, why not?" Phil said and then added with a laugh, "Besides, we'd probably mess something up otherwise."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Dan laughed.

They collected all of the ingredients and supplies for the mix and began to combine everything. When they put the baking dish, complete with butter in order to keep the mix from sticking, into the oven they began to return all of the ingredients to their proper place and washed the mixing bowl.

"That goes in the drying rack," Phil said to Dan, looking over from where he was wiping up a bit of mix that had dripped onto the granite counter.

"Oh, erm, okay," Dan said and instead of placing the glass dish in the dishwasher, he placed it in the drying rack that sat on the counter.

"Do you want to put on something to watch while we wait for it to get done?" Phil asked as the cake began to cook and mentioned that there was a new episode of a certain show he knew they both liked.

Dan agreed and they sat in Phil's room to watch. However, Dan grew uncomfortable as Phil reached out to slip a hand beneath his shirt and leaned over to kiss him.

Without saying a word, Dan tugged his shirt down and turned his head away.

Phil pulled away, and Dan could feel his confused stare. He heard Phil sigh in a manner that he would say was impatient and it made him incredibly nervous.

"Did I do something wrong?" Phil asked after a moment. His voice remained gentle.

"No, I just don't feel like…," Dan mumbled.

"Why not?" Phil asked.

"Why not?" Dan looked at Phil in disbelief and stood up from Phil's bed.

"Wait, I didn't mean-!"

"You can be such an insensitive asshole sometimes," Dan told him.

"Okay, Mr. I-Can-Speak-Fluent-Sarcasm," Phil retorted as he stood up from the bed as well.

"And childish too, apparently," Dan added.

"Okay, you called me an asshole first, Dan. What is the matter with you?" Phil looked at Dan with his face contorted in hurt and confusion. "I just wanted to know why you didn't feel like-!"

"Because I said so, Phil!" Dan shouted, surprising himself. "Do I have to have a reason?"

"No, but if there is one, I'd like to know, so I can fix this," Phil said, gesturing wildly. "You've been acting weird lately. Don't pretend like something isn't up."

"I haven't been acting weird," Dan argued.

"You just called me an insensitive asshole," Phil said. "I'd say that's definitely unusual behavior for you. What did I do wrong?"

Dan ran his hands through his hair in frustration, abruptly lowering himself to Phil's bed and said, "Why did you have to tell Tyler about what happened last week?" He continued to sit with his head in his hands.

"You mean-?" Phil asked as the realization dawned on him.

"I was so embarrassed about that. And then you went and just told Tyler all about it as if you were discussing the weather. I thought it was just between us, Phil," Dan said quietly.

"I'm sorry, Dan. I should've realized it'd make you uncomfortable," Phil gingerly took a seat beside Dan and reasoned, "It was a really insensitive thing to do."

"I'm sorry I called you an asshole," Dan looked up after another moment. "I should've just said something sooner."

"That would've helped," Phil agreed. "But I also could've been more considerate. I'll make sure to keep those things separate when I'm talking to Tyler."

"I would really appreciate that," Dan said in gratitude.

"Okay," Phil leaned forward and this time Dan didn't turn away, but accepted his chaste kiss.

The timer on Phil's oven began to beep from the kitchen and Dan laughed when Phil pulled away.

"I think we have a cake to frost," Phil said.

"What gave that away," Dan said lightly and Phil let out a chuckle.

They kissed once more before Phil got up to take the cake out of the oven. He returned to the bedroom to wait for the cake to cool in order to apply the frosting and Dan joined him in the kitchen when he did. They sliced up the cake as well, and had a piece each.

"You've got a bit of frosting right here," Phil mumbled and reached out to swipe a thumb over the corner of his mouth. Instead of licking the frosting off of his thumb, which Dan had half-expected, Phil wiped the frosting onto Dan's sweater.

"Phil!" Dan exclaimed and Phil replied, "It'll wash out."

"I'll wash you out," Dan said quietly and Phil let out a peal of laughter.

After they had enjoyed the cake they had baked together, Dan said goodnight to Phil, who promised to call him, and returned to his own house.


	16. Addressing something

So, someone reviewed this story under guest and said that I had taken this idea from a story called Inked Petals. I just want to say that I first started writing this story a whole two years and about 6-9 months ago I took all of my writing down and only recently put it back up again which is why it seems like a newer story. It was two years ago when I first started writing it. I've never even heard of Inked Petals. I couldn't reply to this person and say that I didn't get the idea from another story, because they reviewed under guest. If they see this, I hope they believe me, because I really did just come up with this on my own. If two people really had such similar ideas, its probably cause its a good idea lol, but i imagine the actual stories are really different. I say, I imagine, because i've never even read inked petals. But yeah, I just wanted to address that. Thanks for reading.


	17. Chapter 5 - I found it in my computer

I FOUND CHAPTER FIVE IM SO HAPPY i thought i lost it in my computer i was so bummed but i found it recently

* * *

Saturday was a long day, and Dan hadn't seen Phil that morning, but they talked the night before. He was a bit anxious as they'd made vague plans to spend some time at Phil's home that weekend. He hesitated after he locked the entrance door to Howell's Arrangements. Steeling himself, he walked over to the tattoo parlor and pulled the door open.

Curious as he was to see the inside, his stomach fluttered nervously.

"He-," Phil began to call out and cut himself short when he saw Dan just inside the shop. "Oh. Hi."

"Hey," Dan said as he picked at the inner seam of his jacket pockets and fiddled with his keys.

"What's up?"

"I just-, uh, wanted to double check about going over to your's tomorrow?" Dan cringed inwardly as the sentence came out like a question.

"Let me just hang these up. Give me a second."

"Okay."

Dan began to look around the shop. He aimlessly walked amongst shelves and racks of different piercings. Some piercings were hung up, sitting on a shelf or displayed in a case. Tattoo sample drawings were hanging on the walls as well.

A certain tattoo caught his eye and he stopped to appreciate it. The art consisted of vine-y, intricately drawn foliage surrounding a full rose. He imagined the coloring to be vivid and rich.

"Nice, huh?" Phil said as he approached him.

"Yeah," he agreed.

"So, what were you saying?"

"I just wanted to double check about our plans this weekend?" Dan winced again as an apology for his own awkwardness sat on his tongue, but he resisted.

"Right, I'll give you the address to my place and you can come around whenever you're ready tomorrow." Phil explained with a grin.

He moved around to the front of the shop, which also served as a case for piercings, and found a pad of paper. He quickly wrote out his address for Dan and passed it over the counter to him.

"Thanks." He stowed the slip of paper away after looking it over once. He glanced around, and asked, "Is that where you do the tattoos?" with a nod toward a door off to the side.

"Oh, yeah! Do you want to check it out?"

"Yeah, sure," Dan said as Phil began leading him that way.

Through the open door, what Dan found most noticeable was a leather black chair which seemed to allow someone to sit and face either way. On a counter nearby the chair he found what looked like a few different tools that were slightly unnerving.

"You look scared."

"Uhm, it's a little intimidating." Dan let out a nervous laugh, glancing up at Phil.

In this room, it looked as though Phil also did a lot of work on drawing up tattoo ideas and doing paperwork.

Phil explained how the tattoo and piercing guns worked, which did not do much to alleviate his nerves.

"It just sounds painful."

"Well, some people deal with pain easier, or somehow enjoy it. Personally, I just don't find it hard to deal with." Phil said. "But anyways."

"Yeah."

"So, I'll walk you back out then?"

"Sure, thanks."

Phil led the way back out and to Dan's car. Dan remained quiet.

"So I'll call you in the morning and we'll go from there?" Phil asked as he nervously scanned Dan's expression.

Dan's quietness concerned him, if he were being honest.

"Yeah, that's fine."

"Hey, erm, are you okay?"

"Yeah, of course," Dan said. _Why did I actually agree on going to your house and being alone with you for an indefinite amount of time?_

"I'm just, er, tired. Long day, you know?"

"Yeah," Phil agreed. "Well, I'll talk to you later then?"

"Yeah. Later."

* * *

"Hi," Dan said into the phone that night.

"Hey, is everything alright? You never call me."

"Yeah," he answered. Instant regret pulled his lips down into a frown. "Actually, I should probably just go. I shouldn't have bothered you."

"No, no wait!" Phil said quickly. "Please stay on the line. I don't really understand. But stay on the phone, okay? You called me, and that made me very happy."

"Oh. Okay then."

"So what's going on?"

"Just wanted to talk I guess."

"About what?"

"I don't really know. If you had a good day. What you're eating for dinner. Anything you want to talk about."

"Okay. Well, I had a good day. I indulged in pizza for dinner. And now I'm watching anime."

Dan smirked and asked in the most innocent tone he could think of, "What's anime?"

"You don't know what anime is?"

"No."

"You can't be my friend. I'm sorry. Bye."

"I'm joking," Dan laughed. "I watch some."

"I was too, though. So, do you have any favorites then?"

* * *

"Good morning!"

Dan groaned into the phone in response. The temptation to climb back upstairs and crawl back into bed was too strong.

"Is it really?" He asked.

"Of course! I get to see you today!"

"I'm regretting this decision already."

"Oh, come on."

"I'm kidding. I'm just not nearly as cheerful as you are first thing in the morning."

"It's ten am."

"So."

"So, are you gonna come around to check out the flower bed?"

"Yeah." Dan sighed. "Let me drink my coffee and stuff first. I'll call you before I leave."

"Yeah. Okay. I'll see you in a bit."

"See you."

True to his word, after Dan drank a mug of his coffee, got dressed, and looked up Phil's address, he called him back.

"Hey, I'll be on way shortly. I'll see you soon?"

"Yeah. Okay. Awesome. See you soon!"

* * *

After Dan called, Phil went through the house, making sure everything was in its place and that he didn't have an embarrassingly messy restroom. Luckily, he was normally a very neat person and had done some cleaning last night, but he still tried to wipe away every speck of dirt from the entire house.

In the restroom he adjusted his fringe, and looked over what he decided to wear. A pair of old jeans and a t-shirt that was nice, but not too nice that he couldn't wear while digging his hands into the soil. He checked the fridge for supplies to make lunch later on and continued to anxiously shift things around as if they would have been moved out of place in the passed ten minutes.

He realized it'd been twenty minutes since Dan called. What if he couldn't find his house? What if he got in an accident? What if he decide not to-?

But then the door bell rung and Phil knew it must have been Dan at his door. He took a breath, shook his head at himself for being silly, and then walked to the front door.

He pulled the door open to find Dan, nervously biting his own lip with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey," Phil couldn't help but smile widely. "You found it alright. Good!"

"Hi." Dan breathed out as a grin tugged at his own lips. "Yeah. I looked up directions and stuff, so."

"That's good! So, you can come in for a minute if you like and hang up your jacket. Maybe have some coffee or something before we work?"

"Erm, sure. Yeah."

Phil moved aside and let Dan walk in. He slipped his jacket off as Phil shut the door and then turned back to Dan.

"Here, I'll hang that up for you," he said quietly.

"Thanks," Dan passed his jacket over and watched as Phil, with a smile, hung the jacket over a hook on a shelf.

"Alright, so I'll show you the kitchen. It's just through here."

Phil led Dan down the hall, passed an entrance to a well-furnished, modernly decorated living room and into a kitchen that was all stainless steel and black, gold-flecked granite.

"Your house is really nice," Dan commented.

"Yeah. The kitchen was just updated actually. I'm still not completely used to it," Phil said with a laugh.

"So, er, there's coffee, orange juice, soda, and bottled water."

"I'm okay, actually. Thanks, though."

"Okay. Well, let me know if you need anything. So, I'm guessing you got a chance to see the gardening section out front, yeah?"

"Oh, yeah. That's quite a bit of space. It'd take a good days work. But I have a couple ideas actually."

"Okay, but just make sure the flowers you pick out aren't that high maintenance. Just maybe something I could water every couple of days."

"That's kind of what I'm thinking too. So…,"

Dan climbed onto one of Phil's kitchen stools and went on to explain a few different flowers, how they grew, and the arrangement he was thinking he could plant them in.

"That sounds lovely!"

"Do you want to start them from seed, or transfer them from pots to the ground?"

"Erm, we could transfer them into the ground, I guess?"

"Okay, that's probably best anyways, because it's already close to spring. But I'm warning you, turning up the soil is going to be a lot of work."

"Hey, I can handle it. I'm pretty fit," Phil boasted.

"Right. That's why you've got this-," Dan reached out, in a move that surprised even himself, and gently pinched the small bit of flesh on his side just above where the top of his jeans rested. "-bit of chub right here."

"Hey!" Phil swatted him away. "You've got some too." Phil smirked, causing Dan's heart to stutter, and then reached out to touch Dan in a similar manner.

Dan's breath caught and he attempted to hide it with a, "Hey, c'mon now!" He leaned away from Phil, feeling heat rise in his cheeks. "I was kidding."

"I know," Phil let out a small laugh.

"So erm, anyways," Dan began, still grinning. "I've got plenty of supplies at the shop," he hesitated, scratching the back of his neck. "But I think it'd be best if we ran and got them using your truck."

"Sounds good! Shall we get going then?"

"Yeah," Dan hopped down from his stool.

Phil led them back towards the front of the house and grabbed Dan's jacket for him. He grabbed his own, light-weight jacket, and pulled it on without bothering to zip it up.

Phil opened the door to the house and stepped out, let Dan pass and then locked it. Dan followed him out to his truck in the driveway and they climbed in after Phil unlocked the doors.

Phil purposely drove a bit slower than necessary, as he wanted the day to last, while Dan attempted to casually make conversation on the drive over to the shop. He commented on the weather, and how the conditions were good for working and gardening. Phil agreed and rolled the windows down, letting the light breeze play with their hair and the radio was playing music at a low volume on an alternative-rock station.

They settled into quietness, and Dan glanced over at Phil who was sporting a small smile. He seemed undisturbed by their lack of conversation, which let Dan settle more comfortably.

* * *

After about another hour, Dan and Phil were back in Phil's front yard, their jackets hanging up inside again, and were turning up the soil with a shovel and digging fork. That alone didn't take very long, but Dan made sure to remove any rocks from the soil before they mixed in a couple bags of nutrient infused soil. The flowers they were planting were sitting in the shade, underneath the porch and off to the side.

"Okay, not gonna lie, Dan. I've felt a bit winded."

"I told you," Dan laughed as he put his hands over the top of his digging fork that he'd been using to mix the soil and looked over at Phil.

Phil was standing in a similar manner, admiring the work they'd done on the planter. He'd pushed his hair off of his forehead at some point during the morning and sheen of sweat had begun to cover the back of his neck.

"It looks really good," Phil said when he glanced back at Dan.

"Now we can finally get to the fun part and actually plant the flowers," was Dan's response.

"How about a break for lunch or something first?" Phil suggested.

"Honestly thought you'd never ask," Dan said and followed Phil up the porch.

They let their shovel and digging fork lean against the side of the house and Dan shook some of the soil off of his hands before trailing into the house behind Phil.

They went into the kitchen where Phil washed his hands.

"So, I'm not sure what you'd want. But I've got lots of good sandwich stuff and, like, crisps or fruit and you're welcome to anything else, okay?"

"That sounds perfect."

Phil began to pull a few things out of the fridge including sandwich meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and onions. From the cupboard he brought out a bag of crisps held shut by a clip and sandwich bread.

"Can I, erm, wash my hands?" Dan raised his still-dirty hands into the air in an awkward manner.

"Of course! Don't be silly," Phil gestured to the sink. "Or you can wash up in the bathroom if you like. Down the hall," he said in an open-ended tone. "Can't miss it."

"Oh, okay. Great, thanks." Dan said, and went down the hall to the restroom. It really was hard to miss, as there were only two other doors that were shut and a third which was left open. Curiously, he peered into this room for a moment. He took short notice of a bed made with a blue and green duvet smoothly spread and pulled taut across it as well as a false-wood black dresser against the opposite wall that had a line of books across the top of it.

"Hey, do you want your bread toasted?" He heard Phil calling.

"Yes, please!" He called back and decided not to linger any longer outside of Phil's bedroom after another glance into it, and went into the restroom.

After he had used the restroom and washed his hands and face he returned to the kitchen.

Phil made them both sandwiches after asking Dan what he wanted on his, poured them both a cup of soda, and sat beside him on the breakfast bar stools to eat. Dan made comments how good his sandwich was and thanked him for the lunch.

"Don't mention it," Phil said, making a dismissive gesture. "Think of it as a trade. My food for your service."

"Well, we both did the work today."

"True."

"But in all seriousness, Dan, thank you for the help with the yard."

"Don't mention it," Dan echoed him in a somewhat soft voice.

Phil looked over at him, and smiled gently at the open expression he carried.

* * *

"So," Dan started. "You've got a dig a hole about the same size as this pot." Dan referred to the pot that was home to a Vinca shrub which had small white buds scattered amongst dark, green leaves.

"Because when you take them out of the pot, and transplant them to the ground, you could accidentally shock them. The ones we've got today are really hardy though and should be fine."

Dan was kneeling on the ground, grateful that he'd worn old jeans, and with a trowel, began to scoop out a hole just as he'd described.

"So, you've got to kind of," Dan took the pot, and because the shrub was so bound by the roots, the entire thing slipped out, soil and all, as he gently warped the plastic of the pot in his hands.

"And then you just, place it in the hole, bring the soil back around it, and-, viola! You've planted a flower," Dan performed the actions as he described them and patted the soil down around it carefully.

Dan looked over at Phil, who shot him half a smile in return.

"You make it seem simple."

"It is. It just takes care and patience, you know."

Phil began to dig into the planter like Dan had before while Dan watched.

"Erm, a bit bigger," Dan said. "Here." He moved closer, and explained: "You can make as much room as you want, but never leave it to small." Dan scooped more soil out of the way, widening and deepening the hole.

"I kind of like to think about it like this, as well as with most things. Take as much as you like, but only if you give back. And you will be rewarded. And that's the same with gardening."

Dan recovered the flower with soil, and it looked as if it had never come from an old, cracked pot.

"Oh, don't make me sick, Dan," Phil teased.

"Hey, I'm just being sincere. Get to work," he flirted back.

"You're right. I'm being awfully inappropriate," Phil feigned shame, earning a small laugh from Dan and moved onto to dig another hole.

Dan continued to talk while they worked. He explained the growth patterns of the Vincas they were planting and how they would soon fill out the planter so well that you'd forget what it previously looked like.

"Yeah, so they'll take off in no time," Dan said when they were done and admiring their work. Phil sprinkled water over them as Dan instructed. He also explained that they didn't need a lot of water, but just enough to let them become grounded again, to take root.

"It's lovely."

"Yeah."

"Hey, thanks for this. Really. This place needed a lot more life and already it feels better here."

"It's no problem at all. I'm glad I could help," He smiled.

Phil invited him back in for some water and a rest before he left and Dan acquiesced. While they lingered in the kitchen they began chatting about some of the books that Phil read when he mentioned that he wanted to get a new book that was going to be released soon. They shared what books were mutual favorites and when Dan also brought up one that he wanted to read, Phil said that he owned it.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'll loan it to you if you like."

"Really?"

"Yeah. C'mon. I'll show it to you."

Phil went down the hall to his bedroom and Dan quickly followed, hot on his heels.

He stopped outside the doorway, even as Phil flicked on a light, crossed the room and said, "Its right over here."

He glanced back when he had the book in his hands.

"You can come in," Phil said through a smile.

"Oh, er, okay."

Dan stepped into the room, looking around the room. "Is that a Pikachu pillow?"

"Yes."

"You're, like, actually a massive nerd."

"Hey, you are too. So be quiet."

Dan laughed and agreed. "I am."

Dan noticed a small lion plushy as well. "Oh, this is too cute, Phil!"

"You're not being sarcastic are you?"

"No, of course not!"

"Okay, because I've had that little guy for the longest time. Lions are my favorite animal."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah." Phil nodded, and Dan detected a hint of pride in his smile. "I've actually, er, got a lion on my back."

"You mean a tattoo?"

"No, I literally have a three hundred pound lion on my back," Phil said lightheartedly. "Of course, I mean a tattoo."

"My sarcasm is rubbing off on you."

"So it would seem."

"I've totally got to see the tattoo, though."

"Oh, yeah. It's, erm, not much really."

Dan waited, expectant, and Phil gently grabbed the hem of his shirt. He hesitated and then turned away from Dan, before he pulled his shirt up. He raised his arms high above his head, and inches of pale and mole-speckled skin became bare. And then the lion was visible where it decorated Phil's entire shoulder blade and more.

The lion was frozen in the midst of its passionate roar, and the detail astonished Dan. The shine of light in the lion's eyes, the crinkle of his snout, and the texture of his mane and pelt made it seem not as motionless as it really was.

"Oh," Dan reached out to bring a finger-tip up to his painted skin as if it were a magnet.

Phil flinched and Dan quickly pulled back.

"Sorry," he said quietly, lowering his hand.

"It's okay. Your hands are just a bit cold."

"Oh." Dan reached up again, and he felt Phil's muscle move beneath his touch but did not protest. In fact, he seemed to move closer. Or maybe Dan imagined it.

"And this was your design?"

"Yeah, its not much."

"It's beautiful."

"Thanks."

Dan pulled back when he realized he was still touching Phil, who pulled his shirt back over his head and turned to Dan with a small smile.

"Dan, the truth is that I try really hard to be cool around you. But I'm very afraid that I could fuck something up."

Dan could've responded with something stupidly romantic, but instead said, with an incredulous look, "But you're like mega cool! Like, the coolest cool to ever cool amongst the cool."

Phil laughed and shook his head. "Thanks, Dan. That makes me feel loads better."

"But it's true. You're the coolest person. Like, the tattoo shop, your book collection and you're just so kind."

"I dunno. But, really, thank you. I mean it."

"I was only being honest."

"Yeah."


	18. Chapter 17 - after months of no updates

A brand new chapter after like months of not updating this story. Or any of my stories. I'm sure the quality of my writing has gone down a bit, but i hope its still enjoyable. also its kind of short, but i nearly 2k words for this so i thought id go ahead and post it. i'm sure the next chapter will be longer when i get to writing it

I really hope you guys enjoy and that its worth the wait im so sorry for not updating more but in my author's not i posted a while back i explained i was dealing with a lot of mental health issues. but yeah im sorry for barely updating the story now

* * *

Phil woke up unusually early on Sunday morning. He instantly thought of Dan and the previous night when they argued. He felt awful, but he supposed they would've fought eventually. But the only thing that mattered was whether or not it was resolved.

When Phil went into the kitchen to have breakfast he saw the cake that they had made on the granite countertop. He had forgotten to cover it.

As he covered the cake with plastic wrap, he wished Dan had stayed here so that he could make pancakes for the both of them. He decided to call Dan. Leaning against the counter where his cell phone was plugged in, he dialed Dan's number and brought the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" Dan asked, his voice thick from sleep.

Phil's heart swelled. Dan was adorable when he first woke up.

"Good morning. I'm sorry if I woke you," Phil said into the phone.

"It's alright," Dan said. "What's up?"

"I wanted to know if you'd like to have coffee this morning. There's a café right by the tattoo shop, so it'll be easy to find. Or I can pick you up," Phil offered, his excitement rising.

"It's okay. I don't mind meeting you there," Dan replied. "What time?"

"Uhm, in an hour-ish?"

"Yeah, that sounds good, Phil. See you then?"

"Okay. See you then."

In 45 minutes Phil was leaving the house to meet Dan at Cat's Café. He had chosen to dress in a button up shirt, dark jeans, and converse shoes. It was a smooth drive to the café and he arrived with five minutes to spare. When he went inside he sat down to wait for Dan who arrived shortly after.

"Hey," Phil stood when he walked in.

"Hey," Dan said with a heart-melting smile.

"So, you're definitely not mad at me still, right?" Phil asked.

"No, I'm not mad."

"Cool."

Phil drew him into a hug and left a chaste kiss on his cheek as he pulled away.

"So I think we order up here," he said as he led Dan to the short line of people ordering coffee.

They fell in line behind two other people and looked over the display of breakfast sandwiches and other food items. They both picked out a breakfast sandwich made with egg, sausage, and an English muffin. After they ordered coffee they waited off to the side for Phil's name to be called.

When Phil's name was called they collected their coffee and found a place to sit at a small, dark wooden table. The music was low and jazzy and the lighting was warm.

"It's nice in here," Dan said.

"Yeah, it is. I'm glad we came here," Phil said.

Phil unwrapped his sandwich and began eating while Dan took a pull from his coffee.

"So," Phil said after a moment. "How'd you sleep last night?"

"Good," Dan replied as he unwrapped his own sandwich. "How's your sandwich?"

"It's good," Phil said.

"Cool."

They remained quiet for the most of their breakfast. They enjoyed the voices, the music, and keyboard clicks from someone using a laptop.

"Thank you for inviting me to breakfast," Dan said when he finished his sandwich. He leaned forward slightly with a hand on his cup. "We haven't been, like, out in a while."

"No problem," Phil replied. He had finished his sandwich as well and took a sip from his coffee.

"You know, I wouldn't have to call you to go out for breakfast if you decided you wanted to live with me," Phil said with a smile.

"While that is true," Dan replied, grinned. "I'd have to tell my parents about you before we did anything serious."

"Oh, yeah of course."

"I mean, I think they know I'm seeing someone, but I don't think they know you're a guy, so."

Phil replied, "I haven't told my parents yet either, actually."

"Oh," Dan said. "Do they know you like guys?"

"Uhm, yeah, I told them in high school. Do your parents know?"

"No," Dan said quietly.

"Oh," Phil said, his eyebrows rising slightly.

"Yeah."

"Are they like, really judgmental?" Phil asked.

"No, I just, never got around to telling them I guess," he admitted with a sheepish smile and then continued. "During high school, I was… confused."

Phil listened with rapt attention. Dan hardly ever talked about himself, if Phil could even get him talking.

"I like guys and girls, so I didn't know… When I was in high school I wasn't sure what I was until I realized it's okay to just like guys more than girls. And I hardly ever socialized at all or anything so I never got a chance to really date, which I feel like could've helped. But yeah. I never really had it completely figured out so I just never said anything."

"That's okay though," Phil said. "Better late than never, you know."

"Yeah," Dan let out a small laugh. "But anyways, I'd probably have to tell them before I decided to move in with you," he said.

"That'll be big news. You're bi, you have a boyfriend, and you're moving in with him," Phil said and the both of them began to laugh.

"Yeah," Dan agreed.

Well, I ought to tell my parents about you," Phil said, gears beginning to turn in his mind. "Would you like to meet them?"

"Uh, yeah, I suppose so," Dan answered. He took another sip from his coffee.

"They're both great," Phil said as he shook his own cup of coffee to determine the remaining amount. "I know my mum would love to meet you. I'll tell them next time I talk to my mum on the phone," he decided.

"Okay, that sounds good," Dan said.

* * *

After their Sunday breakfast at Cat's Café, Dan and Phil went their separate ways home. Their conversation led to Phil's excitement to tell his parents about their relationship. So when he returned to his home he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed his mother's number.

"Hello?" His mother answered after two rings.

"Hey, mum," Phil said into the phone.

"Hi, Phil. How are you doing?" his mom asked.

"I'm alright. Is Dad there?"

"Yeah, he's in the garage."

"Can you get him?"

"Uhm, sure," his mom said questioningly, but acquiesced.

"I've got something to tell you guys," Phil explained.

"Okay," his mother said, and then to Phil's father: "He says he has something to tell us."

"So, I'm kind of seeing someone," Phil finally said. "I'd like to have you guys meet him."

"Really? That's so exciting," she replied and then said to his father: "He says he's seeing someone… And that he wants us to meet him."

"Why don't you come over next Sunday for dinner and bring him along," Phil's mother suggested.

"That sounds great. I'll see if that's okay with him and then I'll get back to you about it."

"Okay, that sounds wonderful. But other than that, how are you?"

* * *

The following Sunday morning, Phil went out to his kitchen to call Dan from his cell phone. After his conversation with his mother the previous weekend, he had contacted Dan, who agreed to meet his parents that weekend.

"I'm nervous," Dan had said.

"They'll love you. They'll be glad you don't have tattoos," Phil had replied with a smile.

"Hello," Dan picked up.

"Hey, so you still want to meet my parents tonight?"

"Yes," Dan said. "Call me when you're getting ready so I know when to get ready."

"Okay, I'll talk to you later then," Phil said.

"Okay, talk to you later."

Phil spent the day cleaning, taking care of the yard and the flowers he and Dan planted, and drawing out a couple new tattoo designs. Up until a couple of hours before he needed to leave to pick up Dan, he simply enjoyed his day off. He called Dan at three-thirty, who said, "Okay, I'll start getting ready to go," when Phil said that he'd get him in two hours.

Phil had been looking forward to this night all week. His parents were going to meet the man he adored, loved, and cared for. He was so proud to have Dan to introduce to his parents.

He showered, dressed in a button up, jeans and high-top shoes, blow-dried, and straightened his hair. As he did all this, he buzzed with happiness. And at last, he looked in the mirror and decided that he looked good.

He went back into the kitchen to call Dan and see if he was ready.

"Hello?" Dan said when he picked up.

"Hey, are you almost ready?"

"Yup, just about."

"Okay, cool. 'Cause I'm about to take off to get you," Phil said.

"Okay, that's fine. I'll see you when you get here," Dan said.

"See you soon."

Phil left the house, locking the door as he went and headed out to his truck. He jumped in after unlocking it, started the engine, and smoothly pulled out of the drive way. When he pulled up to Dan's house he cut the engine, climbed out of the truck and walked up the pathway to the front door. When he reached the door, he knocked melodically.

A few moments later Dan pulled open the door. Phil allowed his eyes to rake over Dan's figure. He was dressed in a knit sweater, jeans, and vans shoes. The sunlight hit his eyes in the most enchanting way.

"Hey," Dan said.

"Hey," Phil said. "You look good. As always."

"So do you."

Phil leaned in, putting a hand at Dan's cheek and pressed their lips together for a moment. He pulled back and glanced up to find Dan gazing back at him. He smiled, took his hand and asked, "Ready?"

"Yeah," Dan breathed out.

They walked down to Phil's truck, where Phil opened the passenger door for Dan.

"Why thank you," Dan said with a smile.

"You're welcome," Phil replied.

Phil shut the door after Dan settled into the passenger seat and walked around to his side of the car to climb back into the truck.

As Phil pulled away from the house and headed for the highway Dan asked, "How long till we get there?"

"About fifteen minutes," Phil answered.

"Oh, okay."

"Are you nervous?" Phil asked him, glancing over.

"A bit, yeah," Dan said.

"Don't be. They're great. I promise," Phil reassured him.

Phil went on to talk about the day he had told his parents that he was gay.

"My mum was great. She just said, "Oh. So do you have a boyfriend?" I was so happy. And my Dad said he was glad that I told them. I was so nervous to tell them, and then they just, completely accepted it! And it was as if they didn't even bat an eyelash when I told them I wanted them to meet you," Phil explained with a wide smile.

"That's good," Dan said. "I can only hope my parents react the same way."

"Whatever happens, happens. I'm sure everything will work out no matter what," Phil reassured him.

"Yeah."

Phil talked more of his teenage years, and memories he shared with his parents. Dan listened happily, but wondered how long he could procrastinate telling his own parents about Phil. He had no idea how they felt about same-sex marriages, because they had never discussed it with him, even in passing.

"I know you're probably still worried," Phil said when he pulled off of the highway.

"I am," Dan admitted.

"Well, for now, let's just worry about dinner tonight," Phil said in a soft, calming voice.

"Okay," Dan agreed.

* * *

okay, i reeeaallllyyyy hope this was good and everything. please please please review and let me know what you thought and im soo sorry if the quality of my writing has gone down the next chapter will probs be longer and stuff thank you for reading also i set up a new tumblr its yesiwritefanfics . tumblr .com but like all together lol anyways please let me know what you think and thanks for reading


	19. Chapter 18

okay so this chapter is under 2k words too, but it seemed like i hit a nice stopping point

* * *

Phil pulled up to his parent's house when the sun was beginning to quickly set.

"Alright, this is it," Phil said as he parked the car. He climbed out of the truck and Dan followed suit, meeting him on the sidewalk.

Phil took Dan's hand, squeezing it gently before leading him up the walkway to the double doors. Instead of knocking, Phil reached for the handle and swung one of the doors open. With his other hand still in Dan's he led the way into the house. The smell of a roast quickly filled his nose.

"Mum, Dad?" Phil called out.

Phil's parents house had a similar layout to Phil's but was decorated very differently. Their home was very cozy and classic with floral patterned sofas in the living room and ornate lamps standing on the end tables.

"Phil, you made it!" A woman who was much shorter than Phil walked into the front entranceway from the room up ahead. She had dirty-blonde, shoulder length hair and eyes the same color as Phil's. Dan could easily see a resemblance. The only difference was height. "And you must be Dan," She said to Dan and put a hand out to shake Dan's.

She had a kind, approachable smile as they shook hands.

"Yes, that's me," Dan replied with uncertainty.

"It's really good to meet you," She grinned widely as she released Dan's hand. "I'm Linda."

"It's good to meet you as well. You have a beautiful home," Dan told her.

"Oh, thank you," She replied, smiling wider. "We're having a roast for dinner I hope that's okay."

"Of course," Phil said.

"It smells delicious," Dan commented.

"Where's Dad?" Phil asked his mom.

"In the garage. I'll let him know you guys are here," And with that, Phil's mother went down the hall to the left, leaving Dan and Phil to themselves for a moment.

Dan let out a breath.

"See? I told you everything would be fine," Phil said.

"I know," Dan replied.

Phil led him into the living room to sit down and reached for a remote on the coffee table to turn the television on. He laid that remote back down and reached for the cable box remote.

"Let's see if there's something good on," Phil mumbled.

Phil seemed to be at ease at his parent's house while Dan gingerly sat down on the sofa. He was afraid he would dirty the sofa cushions.

A throat clearing sounded to Dan's right. Dan whipped his head over and saw a man, about as tall as Phil standing there next to Phil's mother.

Dan stood quickly and said, "Hello, sir," to Phil's father. He shook his hand firmly and was surprised by the gentle grip the other man had. The other man looked over Dan for a moment.

"So you're Dan?" He asked.

"Yes, sir," Dan answered.

"Well, it's good to meet you," he finally said.

"Good to meet you as well," Dan said, letting out a relieved breath.

Phil's parents went into the kitchen, leaving Dan to return to the couch with Phil, who had settled on a news program.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Phil asked quietly.

"No, it was fine, I guess," he said.

"Mum's roasts are always amazing. I can't wait to eat," Phil said then and stood.

Dan turned his attention to the news program. He heard Phil asking, "Is it ready yet?"

"Almost," his mother answered and said something about bread into the oven.

Fifteen minutes later they were all seated around the large, wooden dining table in the dining room, each of them with a bowl of the roast and a plate with two rolls.

"So, Phil said you own a flower shop?" Phil's mother asked as they ate.

Dan had just taken a bite of his roast, and in his haste to answer, he swallowed the entire bite whole. He coughed and then said, "Yes, I do."

"How did you come to acquire it?" Phil's father asked.

"Oh," Dan said. "Well, it was my grandfather's. I inherited it when he passed."

"Oh, we're very sorry to hear that," Phil's mother said solemnly. Tactfully, she changed the subject and asked where Dan grew up.

During dinner they talked calmly. Phil's parents took their time eating and asked Dan about his own parents, where he grew up, and what he did at the flower shop. He was so glad that it was going well, but was still so relieved when they were saying goodnight and heading out the door.

"Well, that went well," Dan commented as they headed out to Phil's truck.

"It did," Phil agreed. "I'm so glad they got to meet you."

"Yeah."

They climbed into either side of Phil's truck after he unlocked it.

Dan buckled himself in, looking over when he noticed Phil hesitating before starting the engine.

"I love you so much, Dan," Phil said and leaned over to kiss Dan.

"I love you too," Dan replied when Phil pulled back.

* * *

Phil had invited Dan to stay at his house that night, but he reasoned that because he needed to be in the flower shop in the morning, he ought to not. Despite the responsible decision, he laid awake that night, knowing he needed to tell his parents about Phil.

Luckily, when he would tell his parents was sorted out for him, because his mother invited him to come to dinner on Wednesday, saying that she never gets to see him. He agreed to go. _How,_ he would tell them, he was still unsure about.

So that day, before he left the flower shop, he went next door to see Phil.

"I'm gonna do it." Dan said to Phil after they shared a greeting and a kiss.

"Do what?" Phil asked, his eyebrows knitting for a moment.

"Tell my parents. Tonight. Mum invited me to dinner, so this is probably my best chance," he said to Phil.

"Oh," Phil said. "Well, I hope it goes well. Call me later!"

"I will," Dan said. He leaned in to kiss Phil, and then left the tattoo shop to climb into his car.

Instead of stopping at home, he headed straight for his parents house, which was a good half hour away from the flower shop. He drove nervously, constantly checking his mirror and gripping the wheel tightly.

At one point, he took a breath, making an attempt to shake his nerves by breathing more calmly, but became light-headed instead. When he arrived at his parents, he parked in the driveway and walked up to the house, to the white, wooden door.

He stepped inside and found his mom in the kitchen, making garlic bread with a garlic spread and sliced French bread.

"Hey, mum," Dan said.

"Dan! It's so good to see you," his mom said as she lowered the butter knife to the dish with the garlic spread.

She pulled him into a hug and he hugged back. When she released him he asked, "Watcha making?"

"Lasagna. And I'm about to put the garlic bread in," She said. She continued to spread the garlic mixture across the French bread.

"I'm glad you invited me to dinner," Dan commented as his mother worked.

"Oh, yeah?" She said.

"Yeah."

"Well, I am too."

"Where's Dad?"

"The office," his mother answered.

"I'm gonna go say hi," Dan said and went down the hallway to find hid Dad sitting at his computer in the den.

"Hey, Dad," Dan said.

"Son! You're here. Great," His dad said as he stood from the leather high-back chair. He shook Dan's hand in both of his own and said, "Your mom's in the kitchen."

"Yeah, I said hi, already," Dan replied.

"Oh, good. Good." He nodded. "Maybe we should go bug her."

Dan's dad led the way out of the den and into the kitchen where his mother was setting the time for the garlic bread.

"How long until its ready?" His dad asked.

"Just ten more minutes," she answered.

The perfect moment was approaching, Dan was aware. His hands began to tremble slightly.

"So how have you been Dan?" his mother asked.

"Oh, good," he said. "I've actually got something to tell you guys."

Dan's father raised his eyes expectantly and his mother said, "Okay."

"I'm, uhm-. I'm sort of seeing someone."

Dan's mother opened her mouth to say something, but Dan blurted. "He's a guy. I'm bisexual."

She blinked at him. Dan waited. His Dad took in a breath.

Suddenly his mother's eyes began to water. She blinked rapidly, trying to force back tears with a grimace.

"Mum, why are you crying?" Dan asked cautiously.

"It's just," she sniffed and the dark-hair framing her face trembled as she did so. "You've been a loner for so long I thought you'd never find someone."

"Oh, mum." Dan shook with relief.

"I thought you seemed happier when we talked to you on the phone," she said. She wiped her eyes and then glanced at her husband, nudging him in the ribs.

"We're very happy for you," he agreed. The inclusion of himself was not lost on Dan.

As they ate, Dan's parents asked lots of questions about Phil. What was his name, what did he do, how did they meet, etc. etc.

"When will we get to meet him?" Dan's mother asked at one point.

"Soon, I think." Dan said.

His parents also asked about the flower shop and about how Louise was doing. After they ate Dan lingered for a few minutes to help his mother clean the kitchen and afterwards he began saying goodnight.

"And we really need to meet Phil. We'll have dinner and you can bring him with you," his mother said as they stood around the threshold to the house.

"Okay, that sounds good," Dan replied. "Night, mum. Bye Dad."

"Night son," His Dad said.

"Call again soon," his mother said.

"Okay, I will," Dan said as he walked from the house.

Dan heard the door closing behind him as he walked down the pathway to where his car was parked in the driveway. Before driving away from the house, he sat in his car and smiled to himself.

He told his parents.

And they took it wonderfully.

But he couldn't believe his mother cried.

As he drove home he looked forward to telling Phil everything that had happened. When he arrived at his own home he climbed out of the car, locked it, and quickly walked up and into the house. Once inside he went into the kitchen to use the phone to call Phil.

He dialed Phil's number, and after two rings Phil was saying, "Hello?"

"Hey," Dan said. "I told them."

"How did it go?" Phil asked.

"Fine," Dan said with a smile. "It went fine, Phil."

"That's awesome!"

"Yeah. My mum really wants to meet you," Dan said.

"What about your Dad?" Phil asked.

"Well, he didn't really say a lot on the subject. But he said he was happy for me."

"That's good."

"Yeah."

They talked until the better part of the evening, until Dan realized he needed to be ready to go into the shop the next morning. So they got off the phone and Dan prepared for bed.

And instead of lying awake, worrying, he laid in bed feeling as if a weight was lifted from his shoulders.

* * *

okay so it was kind of short but thats okay still i hope everyone enjoyed please please please let me know what you guys thought in a review thank you and thanks for reading


	20. Chapter 19

another chapter who is excited?

* * *

Dan awoke the next morning at 6:15 and was still feeling the lightness he had experienced the day before. He supposed after going so long without telling his parents about one of the most important aspects of his life, he would feel this way. He had carried this part of himself as a secret up until he had met Phil. Up until he had met Phil, he selfishly kept a lot of things to himself.

Dan rose from bed, swinging his legs over and putting his feet onto the carpet. He padded out of his room and downstairs to make coffee in the kitchen. While the coffee brewed he walked back upstairs to change into an outfit for the day. He stripped out of his t-shirt in front of the mirror. Upon glancing up, he looked at his shirtless reflection for a few moments.

He turned this way and that way, contemplating his complexion and surveying his own form. He considered; great images of color and caricature decorating the expanse of his back and traveling down his arms. Then he laughed at himself, shook his head and crossed the room to pick out a clean long-sleeve, black t-shirt. As well, he took out a pair of jeans and changed into those.

He went into the restroom to brush his teeth, comb his hair, and straighten a few locks of hair that had gone wavy during the night. When he was satisfied with his appearance, he went back downstairs to find the coffee pot full of steaming coffee.

He filled a thermos with coffee, added cream, stirred it and then walked out of the house, grabbing his wallet and keys as he went.

The morning passed uneventfully. Dan's lunch break rolled around and while Louise remained in the shop to eat, he decided to check up on Phil. He explained to Louise that he would be back in a few minutes and then left the shop to go next door.

When he entered the tattoo shop he found Phil cleaning the glass case that was also used as a counter for the register.

"Hey," Phil said with a smile when he saw that Dan had entered.

"Hey," Dan echoed him.

"What's up?"

"Just wanted to come say good morning," he replied.

"Oh. Are you on your lunch break or something?"

"Yeah," Dan said. He took in all of the tattoos on the wall behind the counter.

"Phil, I think I want a tattoo."

Phil had been bent over, putting away the paper towels and glass cleaner.

He slowly straightened out to look at Dan. "Really?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay. Do you know what you want?" Phil asked as he readjusted his glasses.

"Uhm, I'm not sure yet, but maybe something floral. And probably for on my back."

"Okay," Phil said. "I could draw something myself for you. If you're okay with that."

"You know what, that's a great idea," Dan said with a smile.

"Okay. I'll start working on it right away."

"Okay. I'm really excited."

"Yeah, I am too," Phil agreed. "I can't believe you're letting me give you a tattoo."

"Well, I trust you," Dan explained.

"I'm glad," Phil said. "Where do you want it?"

"Right shoulder blade, I think."

"Okay, that's probably a good spot."

After a pause, Dan said, "Well, I'm gonna go get some lunch. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay," Phil leaned forward over the counter and Dan met him with a kiss.

* * *

The following afternoon, after Dan had returned to his home and began cooking dinner, his phone rang. He stepped away from the stove to answer the phone and returned to the stove to stir the vegetables and chicken he was sautéing.

"Hello?"

"Hey," Phil's voice said.

"Hey," Dan smiled.

"What are you up to?" Phil asked, sounding equally happy to speak to the other.

"Cooking," Dan answered.

"What are you cooking?"

"A stir-fry."

"Sounds yummy. So I'm working on the drawing for your tattoo. And I wanted to ask you," Phil said.

"Yeah?"

"I've done a rose but is there anything else you want with it? Like text, or anything else," Phil asked.

"Uhm, just make it simple," Dan said. "Simple but elegant."

"Okay, perfect," Phil said.

"Okay. When will it be done?"

"Probably tomorrow," Phil said.

* * *

Dan settled into the leather tattoo parlor chair on Saturday evening. His hands shook as he rested them on his thighs. He had just taken off his shirt as Phil prepared the tools he would use on Dan.

"I'm literally so nervous right now," Dan admitted.

"Don't be," Phil said. "And if it's too painful then I'll stop. No worries."

"Okay," Dan mumbled.

He tried to relax into the chair.

The previous day Phil had shown Dan what he had drawn as they sat across from each other at the diner they sometimes went to. The instant Dan saw it he said, "It's perfect."

There was a simple, red rose joined by a few leaves. The rose had the proper shading and textures.

"It'll have color. I think the color will look good," Phil said.

"Yeah, I think so too," Dan agreed as he looked at it.

They decided, as they ate, that Phil would do the tattoo at the end of the week. But on that day he became extremely nervous. Especially when the tattoo gun began buzzing.

"I know that staying relaxed helps a lot," Phil said. "If you're tense it could hurt more."

"Okay," Dan said.

A few moments later, after Phil had loaded the tattoo gun with ink, he said, "Okay," and brought the instrument to Dan's skin.

Dan sucked in a breath at the sensation.

It was somewhere between a tickle and a stinging that was definitely bearable.

"Does it hurt?" Phil asked.

"Just a tiny bit," Dan said.

Dan tuned out the buzzing within a few minutes. It became white noise in between the small conversations they shared.

Phil eventually changed ink, which Dan was glad for because it meant they were making progress. What bothered him more than the slight tingle and sting of the tattoo gun, was sitting in one place for so long.

"How much longer do you think it will take?" Dan asked at one point.

"Forty-five minutes," Phil answered in a focused murmur.

"Okay."

When the forty-five minutes had passed, Phil said, "Just a bit longer."

Phil made the final strokes of color and then shut the tattoo gun off. The buzzing ended. He had grown so accustom to it, that it seemed strange to be in total silence. Phil rolled his chair away from where Dan was sitting to set the tattoo gun down.

"I have to put a bandage on it, so stay there," Phil said as he collected a few things. When he returned to sitting behind Dan he began to apply the bandage.

"This stays on for just a couple of hours, and then it should be cleaned."

"Okay," Dan said.

"You could come stay at my place tonight if you want so that I can help with everything," Phil suggested.

"That sounds fine," Dan said. He hadn't spent a night at Phil's in a few weeks, so he wasn't about to pass on the suggestion.

"Cool," Phil said with a smile.

Once the tattoo was bandaged, Phil said, "Okay go ahead and stretch your legs and stuff."

Dan stood, relieved to be able to stretch his legs out. He bent each leg back, at the knee, before grabbing his shirt from the counter. He pulled it back over his head, being careful not to undo the bandage.

"So, I'll go to my place to get a change of clothes to bring to your place," Dan said when he was fully dressed.

"Okay, that's cool. I'll finish up here and meet you there. How does that sound?"

"Perfect."

"Okay, I'll see you soon," Dan said.

"See you in a bit."

Dan left Phil's tattoo shop and went out to his car. He had already locked up the flower shop before he had gone in, so he only needed to head home to pack up a few things.

In his excitement to spend the night with Phil, he packed quickly then headed back out to meet Phil at his. When he arrived at Phil's, he saw Phil's truck in the driveway, so he climbed out of his own car and grabbed his duffel bag from the back seat. He walked up the driveway to Phil's door.

He knocked clearly and then inched the door open because Phil was expecting him.

"Come in," Phil called from the kitchen.

Dan entered the house fully, and went into the kitchen to find Phil.

Phil was standing in front of the fridge, perusing the contents.

"Is there anything you want for dinner?" Phil asked Dan.

"I'm good with whatever," Dan replied.

"Okay, 'cause to be honest, I don't feel like cooking," admitted the other.

"That's fine," Dan laughed.

Phil shut the fridge, then looked over at Dan, and looked him over. Dan caught the eye movement and couldn't help but smile wider. Phil sheepishly grinned back at him.

"So shall we order pizza then?"

"I'm good with whatever," Dan said again.

Phil went over to where his cell phone was plugged in to make the phone call, so Dan went into the living room where he turned on the television to find something to watch. He settled on Ellen, and Phil soon joined him.

Phil leaned over to wrap his arms around Dan's waist.

"Pizza is on its way," Phil said.

"Cool."

That sat silently for a few moments, before Phil murmured, "I love you."

"I love you too."

They tuned into the television, occasionally readjusting their seating arrangements on the couch. When the pizza arrived they moved into the kitchen and ate at the dining room table.

Dan smiled at Phil from across the table when he was done eating and got up to throw out his plate. In the living room, he went through Phil's DVD cabinet and found something to put on.

Phil's home began to feel like Dan's home away from home. Like his second home. He never felt unwelcome, or like he was intruding on Phil and his space. He felt as if he could come and go as he pleased. He felt less and less like a guest each time he stayed. He felt free.

Phil soon joined him in the living room. They settled in to watch their movie and settled into each other.

* * *

woo hoo another chapter completed and posted

it's a little short but thats okay

also i set up a dan and phil themed tumblr - yesiwritefanfics . tumblr . com please come say hi lol

please lmk what you think of this chapter

someone at one point, before i had first taken down my writing, reviewed under guest suggesting a chapter where Phil gives Dan a tattoo to signify Dan's trust in Phil so yeah i hope that person gets to read this and if so, i hope it was good!

btw ive never gotten a tattoo before but i asked my sister what it was like so i went off of that


	21. Chapter 20

Dan stepped underneath the stream of water in Phil's shower. Phil had just taken the bandage off of his new tattoo. He had also held up a mirror just right, so that Dan could see it in the bathroom mirror on the wall.

"It's amazing," Dan had said, in awe. "It looks so good. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Dan," Phil said.

Dan let the water run over his body and into his hair. With the water still running he sat on the edge of the bath so that Phil, who was still in the restroom, could clean his tattoo for him.

"Thanks," Dan said again. "There's no way I could wash it myself. At least not very well."

"No problem," Phil said.

Phil dispensed a bit of soap, which was at one point bought mainly for cleaning tattoos, onto his hands, lathered it up until it became sudsy, and gently brushed a hand over the tattoo.

Dan let out a breath and shut his eyes.

Phil continued to scrub softly and eventually moved on to Dan's shoulders.

"While I'm here, I might as well give you a massage."

Dan smiled.

Phil kneaded the flesh across Dan's shoulder and along either side of his spine. Suddenly, Phil brushed his hands across Dan's ribs.

Dan arched his back and protested to the tickling until Phil returned to massaging his shoulders.

"I love you," Phil said.

"I love you too."

Phil leaned over, chest pressing to Dan's back to kiss him. Dan leaned back to meet him and kissed back.

Phil left the bathroom and left Dan to finish showering. But when he left, he left Dan with a full heart. As he always did.

When Dan finished showering he almost redressed. Still naked and damp from the shower, he entered Phil's bedroom.

Phil looked around at him from where he was sitting at the edge of the bed.

Phil sucked in a breath at the sight of Dan, with water running from the ends of his hair, to his neck and down his chest. They'd been together for long enough that he thought he would grow more accustom to seeing Dan nude, but his body still reacted. Especially when he saw that Dan appeared to be ready.

"Is everything okay?" Phil asked.

"Yeah," Dan answered.

Dan stepped forward and walked around to where Phil was sitting. Dan dropped to his knees slowly and then reached for Phil's pants.

"What are you doing?" Phil asked and caught Dan's hands in his own.

"I want to do this for you," Dan said, looking at the way Phil held his hands.

"But, you don't have to. Not like this at least."

"How should we do it then?" Dan asked. He wasn't ashamed in asking because he had never done this for Phil.

"You shouldn't be on your knees," Phil said. He released Dan's hands and stood. He slipped his shirt off and discarded it on the floor. Dan watched him climb onto the bed and lay on his back. "Come up here," he said to Dan.

So Dan did it Phil's way. He went slowly, and Phil let him take his time. Phil relaxed and enjoyed the way Dan explored this part of him. After some time, Dan became more confident and was able to bring Phil close to release. But Phil stopped him and put a hand under his chin.

Dan crawled up to meet Phil, and they kissed. Still attached at the mouth, Phil wrapped his arms securely around Dan and rolled the both of them over so he could be above the other.

When Phil pulled away for a breath, he said, "I love you so much."

"I love you too," Dan said.

They made love.

* * *

They spent the entire weekend together. On Monday night Dan returned to his house because he had to be at the flower shop the next morning. He was beginning to dread these times, the times he had to leave at the end of the weekends they spent together. Or when he had to head home after work, instead of just heading to Phil's like he would on some weekends.

As the week progressed he thought back to what Phil had offered before. He offered to share his home with Dan. When Phil had first made this offer, Dan was surprised, and definitely was not ready to take that step. But as each day passed, he grew more certain that he wanted this Phil. He wanted to be by Phil's side at all times. He didn't want to say, "see you later," anymore.

He wanted to wake up every morning and say "good morning," to Phil. He wanted to cook together every night and share their toothbrush holder.

On Thursday afternoon after he had closed up the flower shop, Dan went into the tattoo shop to find Phil. Upon entering he found Phil stocking the racks of earrings and other piercings.

"Hey," Phil said with a smile.

"You want to have dinner tonight?" Dan was surprised by this sense of urgency that came over him.

"Sure," Phil said. "Should we meet up somewhere?"

Dan mentioned the diner they sometimes went to and Phil agreed and said that he would head there as soon as he was done with stocking the store for the next day.

"Okay, I'll see you soon," Dan said.

"Okay," Phil agreed.

Dan took the quick drive to the diner and found a place to sit in a booth with red-leather seats against a window.

A waitress walked up to his table, and said, "Waiting on someone?"

"Yes, thank you," Dan replied.

"Okay, I'll check back in a few minutes," the waitress said and walked away.

A few minutes later Dan could see Phil pulling up in his truck. They made eye contact through the window before Phil stepped inside and found him in the booth.

Phil slid into the seat across from him and said, "Hey."

"Hey," Dan replied.

"So," Dan began, glancing up at Phil. "I thought about what you said before."

"Oh?" Phil said, questioningly. He was confused as to what Dan was referring to.

"About, you know, inviting me to live with you." He looked up to see that a smile spread across Phil's face. He grinned as well.

"And I want to do it. Move in with you I mean."

Dan looked up again to see a beaming Phil.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah," Dan said.

At that moment their waitress walked up to their table and greeted them. She asked if they were ready to order and they did. After they were done ordering, she left them to talk.

"So you really want to move in with me?" Phil asked again.

"Yes, Phil," Dan said with a smile.

Phil reached across the table top to hold one of Dan's hands and said, "I'm so happy."

They continued to hold hands.

"Yeah, me too."

Dan and Phil talked before, as, and after they ate, about all of the logistics that would be involved with Dan moving into Phil's. They had talked money before, so the only thing stopping them was that Dan's lease agreement was ending in a couple of months. Dan would, instead of renewing the lease, move out and into Phil's with him and be added onto his lease. But they had to wait. They talked until the sun was setting on a dark blue sky and the streetlights were coming on. The light above their heads was reflected in the window.

"I'm so excited I can hardly wait already," Phil said.

"I know," Dan agreed.

In the parking lot, before they went their separate ways, they kissed and held each other.

"Alright, I'll see you later," Dan eventually said with a frown.

"Later," Phil agreed.

* * *

The next few weeks passed without much incident. Dan and Phil spent their weekends together, the both of them dreading the ends of these weekends.

"You could just like, stay, you know," Phil said to Dan on a Monday night after he had walked Dan out to his car.

"I really shouldn't. I have to be at the shop in the morning. And I have no more clothes to wear," Dan said. "Plus I'll go in to say good morning on my lunch break," Dan suggested, even though he did that almost every morning when they worked already. "How does that sound?"

"That sounds fine," Phil sighed.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Dan said and kissed Phil before getting into his car and pulling out of Phil's driveway.

When Dan returned to his house, he saw that he missed a phone call from his mother.

He played the message as he set his wallet out on the counter.

His mother's voice filled the house. "Hi, Dan. I haven't heard from you in a few weeks so I wanted to see how things were going. Call me back when you can. Thanks. Love ya, bye."

Dan took the phone off the charger and dialed his mother's number. While the phone rang he sat down at the kitchen table.

"Hello?" answered his mother a few moments later.

"Hey, it's me," Dan said.

"Hi, Dan. How are you doing?"

"I'm good. How are you and Dad?"

They talked for a few minutes about the shop, Louise, and his mother eventually asked about Phil.

"How are things with Phil? You know we still haven't gotten to meet him," his mother said in a slightly disapproving tone.

"Oh, sorry about that. But I actually have some news about Phil," Dan said.

"Oh, yeah? What's that?"

"I've actually decided, that when my lease is up, I'm going to move into Phil's with him."

"Really? So soon?"

"We've been together for a while now, mum," Dan said. He got up from the table and moved into the living room where he sat in his rocking chair.

"Oh, okay," his mother said, her voice going higher as she dragged out the word.

"We both feel pretty serious about each other," he explained.

"I just want to make sure it's what you want," she said.

"It is," Dan said.

"Alright. Well, I'm happy for you Dan," she finally said.

They talked for a few more minutes before Dan said, "Well, I've got to get ready to go in the shop in the morning. I'll let you go for now."

"Okay, have a good week, Dan."

"Thanks, mum. You too. Bye."

"Bye."

Dan hung up the phone and got up from the recliner to put the phone back on the charger. He went upstairs, the conversation with his mother still lingering in his mind. He was more certain of what he wanted with Phil than he was with anything else. But a small doubt settled into the back of his mind.

* * *

hi thank you for reading

im sorry its so short

i'll do my best to make the next one longer

please review with your thoughts on this chapter

also come say hi on tumblr yesiwritefanfics . tumblr . com

thanks again


	22. Chapter 21

The next day, Dan went into the shop. He prepared everything for business. He checked the racks of flowers, prepared the register with cash, and unlocked the door. Louise arrived an hour later.

"Hey, you have a successful relationship," Dan said to Louise.

"Yeah? Is there something going on with Phil?" Louise asked in concern.

"No. Well, we're planning on moving in together now. Do you think it's too soon?"

"Not at all. As long as it's what you want. But I can't imagine Phil pressuring you," she answered.

"He's not pressuring me. But what if it's too soon? What if it doesn't work out?"

"Then it doesn't work out, but it doesn't have to be the end."

"Okay. 'Cause I don't want it to be the end."

"No, it won't be," Louise reassured him.

* * *

Dan looked around the empty, bare house with a smile.

It was moving day. And an extremely busy Monday.

He and Phil had taken his furniture and a few things to be donated using a rental truck and Phil had helped him pack during the previous weeks.

They had just filled the rental truck with Dan's things. Dan didn't have many things. He had his clothes, his books, his laptop, a few DVDs, and a few things that had been up on his walls that he favored. He walked through the house to be sure that he did not forget anything. When he was satisfied that the house was empty, he went out to the truck where Phil was waiting.

"All good?" Phil asked.

"Yup," Dan answered.

They took the easy drive to Phil's house.

"So it's actually happening!" Phil said excitedly as he drove with one hand on the steering wheel, another on the truck door.

"I know," Dan said.

Dan remember the first day he met Phil. He had no idea he would ever find himself in a serious relationship with him, let alone moving in with him. He and Phil had come a long way.

When Phil switched hands on the steering wheel, Dan reached out to take his free hand to hold. They held hands almost the entire way to Phil's-, their, house.

When they arrived they opened up the back of the truck and began to carry things into the house.

As they did this, Phil said, "I made room in the closet and in the dresser for your clothes, okay?"

"Okay," Dan replied, holding back a grunt from carrying a box of books. "Where should I put the books?"

"In the living room is fine. I want to get a book shelf for all the books for in there."

Dan took the box he carried into the living room and put it off to the side, while Phil took a bag of his clothes down the hall to the bedroom.

They carried on in this fashion until the rental truck was empty.

When it was empty, they took the truck back to the rental company. Dan followed him in his car, so that Phil would drive the truck and would have transportation back. When they returned they took a break for lunch.

They both had a sandwich before they moved on to find a place for Dan's things.

"The right side of the dresser and closet is empty," Phil told him.

So Dan began to organize his clothes into what he wanted to hang and fold into the drawers. As well as putting his clothes away, they found a place Dan's other things.

The house became a pleasant mixture of their things. And with all of Dan's belongings along side Phil's he felt even more at home than ever before.

"I knew you're things would fit perfectly," Phil said to him as they collapsed the boxes they had used. They carried the collapsed boxes to the garage.

When they seemed to have everything in order they settled into the couch in the living room. Phil turned on the television and they found something they agreed on to watch.

* * *

That night after eating dinner, Dan felt the urge to say, "Well, I better get back. I have to be at the shop tomorrow." But he didn't. Because he was already at home.

"What time do you work in the morning?" Phil asked him.

"Seven. I have to put up at 6:15-ish."

"Cool. Don't worry about making a lot of noise. I usually wake up early anyway," Phil told him.

"Okay."

After they sorted out the kitchen they went into Phil's room to watch a new movie. As they pushed back to sit with backs resting against Phil's headboard, Dan said, "It feels weird not to have left after dinner."

Phil laughed and said, "I'm sure you'll get used to it."

"Yeah, I know. It's just, you know," Dan replied.

"Yeah."

A few moments later, while the previews for the movie were still running, Phil leaned over, kissed Dan's cheek and said, "I love you."

"I love you too."

They only watched half the movie.

* * *

Dan awoke the next morning to the alarm on his phone. He quickly shut it off, but Phil still stirred.

Dan looked over at Phil. He paused, looking at him.

They had spent nights together before. But knowing that this wasn't just spending the night, that this was their first morning living together, changed everything. Dan's heart swelled.

Phil's breathing evened out again, so Dan got up and began to get ready for the day. He had showered the night before, so he took the time to straighten his hair and he dressed in all black, like he normally did for work.

When he was done getting dressed he turned and found Phil looking right at him. He immediately grew warm in the face and said, "Were you watching me get dressed?"

"As a matter of fact, I was."

Dan made a face and Phil laughed, a deep, throaty chuckle still rough from sleep.

"I can't help it. You're attractive," Phil said.

Dan grew even hotter in the face.

They'd been together for months and he still was embarrassed by Phil's attention.

"Good morning, by the way," Phil said to him.

"Good morning," Dan replied.

"Leaving for work?" Phil asked.

"Yeah."

"Can I kiss you before you leave?" Phil asked as he sat up, revealing his chest from beneath the blanket he had around him.

"Of course," Dan said.

Phil stood and put a hand at his cheek to peck him on the lips.

"Okay, have a nice day," Phil said.

"I'll see you later," Dan said.

Dan turned then and walked around the bed to the other side of the room. He left the bedroom and put his shoes on in the living room, grabbed his keys, and then left the house.

* * *

Over the week, Dan adjusted to this schedule of leaving earlier than Phil and returning home earlier than Phil. It allowed him to begin making dinner for them for when Phil arrived. He quickly learned where Phil kept everything in the kitchen, if he didn't already know.

He also had taken the time to call his parents, and give them the house number at Phil's-, their house. It was still difficult to think of it as both of theirs now.

On Saturday afternoon, while they watched the Ellen show, Dan looked over at the boxes of books they had yet to put on a shelf.

"When should we get a shelf?" Dan asked Phil during a commercial break.

"Oh my god, I keep forgetting about those," Phil said. "Maybe tomorrow?"

"Okay, that sounds good."

* * *

At the store, Dan insisted on paying for the shelving unit. His reasoning was that it would help him to feel as if that it was his home too, having made contributions towards it.

They made sure to pick a 5-shelf bookcase that matched Phil's other furniture. They bought it in a box and brought it home with Phil's truck.

Dan opened the box with a box cutter and began to take the parts out. He found the instructions as well and looked those over.

"Wait, you have the right tools for this right?"

"Oh, yeah of course," Phil said. "I'll get them. Hang on."

Phil left the living room. Dan took that time to read the instructions carefully. Phil returned a few moments later.

Carefully, following the directions they had, they put the shelf together. And when it stood tall in the living room, they put it into position in the corner of the room at an angle.

"Perfect!" Dan said.

"Yup. We did good," Phil agreed.

They began putting Dan's books onto the shelf. There was still room for a few other things, but there was no doubt those spaces would be filled.

* * *

"So how's it going with Phil?" Louise asked Dan on the following Tuesday morning.

"It's going wonderfully," Dan said, beaming. "I got a bookshelf for my books."

"That's good!"

"I'm so happy, Louise," he said as if it were a confession.

"That's good. I'm so glad for you. Your parents know right?"

"Oh. Yeah, of course. They'd be pissed if I didn't at least tell them," Dan said, still grinning.

"Well, I'm really glad for you," Louise said again. "You deserve to be happy."

"Thanks, Louise."

* * *

A few weeks later, while Dan and Phil ate dinner, the house phone rang. Dan got up to answer it, knowing that it may have been his mother.

He picked up the phone and brought it up to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Dan?"

"Yes," he said.

"It's your mother. I was just calling to see how things were going," she said.

"Everything is going great," Dan said.

"Good!"

Yeah…," Dan took the phone into the living room, not wanting to be rude to Phil.

Ten minutes later, Phil peeked around the corner of the living room at Dan. Dan looked up and made a gesture to signal that he was almost done talking to his mother.

When he was done talking to her he hung up and went into the kitchen where Phil was cleaning up from dinner.

Dan went to the table to quickly finish eating. He said, "Sorry that was my mum."

"No, its fine!" Phil said. "I just didn't know if you wanted to finish eating still."

"Yeah," Dan said.

He brought his dishes to the sink, rinsed them, put them in the dishwasher, then grinned at Phil.

Phil smiled back with a small laugh.

* * *

hi im sorry this chapter is so short but i got sort of stuck lol but please let me know if there is anything you guys want to see from this story or in the next chapter and please let me know what you thought of this chapter thanks for reading have an awesome everything


	23. Chapter 22

prepare for a lot of cheesiness omg

also, yay i hit 2K words

* * *

Dan awoke to his alarm early Tuesday morning. He shut it off immediately and then laid his phone back down onto the end table. Phil's arms surrounded him a moment later.

"Morning," Phil murmured.

Their skin brushed as Dan turned over and wrapped his own arms around Phil. Dan echoed Phil with, "Morning."

Phil turned his head, pressing his chin to Dan's chest to look up at him with sleepy eyes. Dan smiled and shifted higher onto the pillows to get a better look at him. Phil blinked and then turned his head to the side again.

"It's so good to have you next to me when I wake up," Phil said, continuing to squeeze him.

"Agreed," Dan replied quietly. He stared up at the ceiling for a few moments before he felt the press of Phil's lips to the skin of his stomach.

With a sharp intake of breath he looked down at Phil. Phil looked back at him with a suggestive smile on his face.

"Phil, what're you-? I have to get ready to go soon."

"We have a few minutes," Phil said back to him, pressing another kiss to his stomach, lower this time.

Dan didn't say anything, so Phil paused, looked up at him and asked, "Do you want me to stop?"

"No."

* * *

Ten minutes later, Dan reluctantly climbed out of bed to get dressed for the day. His legs felt as if they were jelly.

"What about you?" Dan had asked Phil before he left the bed.

"Don't worry about me," Phil replied.

"Okay," was all Dan said.

Dan went to the dresser to pick out his clothes for the day. He said, "You're watching me aren't you?"

"Always," Phil replied.

Dan glanced around to smile at him before stepping into his pants. Once he was dressed, he went into the restroom to straighten any wavy locks of hair. He heard the TV coming on as he was putting the straightener away beneath the sink. He brushed his teeth and dropped his toothbrush back into the shared toothbrush holder when he was done.

"Lookin' good, babe," Phil said to him from where he sat on the edge of the bed when he left the restroom.

"Thanks," he said, his face flaming up. His heart fluttered pleasantly in his chest as, "babe" echoed in his mind.

"I started the coffee," Phil also said.

"Awesome," Dan said.

Dan went into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. He looked at the time as well and decided he had enough time to make an egg and some toast. He hummed as he knelt down to get a pan from the cupboard and danced back to the stove.

He looked up as he placed the small pan on the stove and saw Phil watching him from the entrance into the dining area.

Dan's face grew warm for the second time that morning. Phil let out a soft chuckle.

"You're so cute," he said.

"You weren't supposed to see that," Dan said.

Phil laughed again and Dan continued: "I'm gonna make an egg and some toast. You want some?"

"Sure," Phil said as he walked further into the kitchen.

Phil went to the fridge to get two eggs out, the tub of butter and the coffee creamer.

Dan turned on the flame for the stove, bending over to make sure it caught. While the pan grew hot, Dan got himself a mug down from the cupboard and filled it with coffee.

Phil passed him the creamer when he turned to reach for it.

"Thank you," Dan said.

After he poured creamer into his coffee and stirred it in, he took a sip and then cracked two eggs into the pan on the stove. Phil made his own mug of coffee as well.

Dan took a sip from his coffee, and then set it aside.

He hummed softly as he checked the eggs. When he set the spatula aside, Phil took his hand.

"What're you-?" Dan asked with a smile.

"Keep humming," Phil said.

So Dan did. Phil took his other hands, and brought him into the open space of the kitchen. Phil brought Dan close and swayed with him as Dan hummed. When the melody of Dan's hums changed, Phil led him to step out.

Dan clumsily followed his lead and spun back into Phil's arms. He laughed as Phil swayed with him again, his back pressing to Phil's chest.

Phil released him after pressing a kiss to his cheek so that he could check the eggs and flip them.

Phil dropped two slices of toast into the toaster and pulled them down to begin toasting them.

"You're so cheesy," Dan said after he flipped the eggs.

"I know, but you love me anyways," Phil said.

"I do," Dan agreed.

When the toast was done they buttered each slice and put each one on two plates. As well, they put an egg atop each slice of buttered toast. Before sitting down to eat, Dan glanced at the clock and saw that he had just enough time to eat and finish his coffee.

Dan and Phil sat across from each other at the table to eat. When Dan was done he put his plate and mug in the sink and then went to the entranceway to put his shoes on. He returned to the kitchen to rinse his dishes and put them in the dishwasher. Phil got up from the table as Dan said, "I'm gonna take off pretty soon here."

"Okay," Phil said as he put his dishes in the sink. He turned to Dan and brought him close for a kiss.

"See you later," Dan said when Phil released him.

"Later," Phil agreed.

As Dan left the house, Phil rinsed his dishes and put them into the dishwasher. When he shut the dishwasher, he turned, leaned against the sink, and then smiled with a small laugh.

* * *

Dan spent the first hour at the shop preparing everything for business. He opened at eight at usual. Louise arrived shortly after opening the shop.

"Good morning," she said to Dan as she walked into the office. She put her white, leather purse on top of the filing cabinet and began putting on her name tag.

"Good morning," he replied with a wide smile.

"You seem to be in a good mood," Louise commented.

Dan tried not to blush, but he grew slightly warm in the face.

He managed to keep it hidden from Louise by staring ahead at the computer screen. "Uhm, yeah," he said.

"What about you? How are you?" Dan looked up at her.

"I'm good," She said and went on to talk about her weekend.

Unfortunately, people began to come into the shop and needed help, so they could not continue their conversation until lunch time rolled around.

He talked with Louise for a few minutes before saying that he was going next door to see Phil and that he would be back. He left the flower shop while Louise ate her lunch in the office. He walked over to the tattoo shop and stepped inside. He found Phil cleaning the glass counter.

"Hey!" Phil said.

"Hey," Dan replied.

They both leaned over the counter to meet in a kiss. When they pulled apart, Phil asked, "How has your morning been?"

"Good. A little busy, but that's okay," Dan said. "What about you?"

"It's fine. I just opened up, so it's been slow so far. But I have a couple appointments today for tattoos."

"Cool," Dan said. "Well, I better get back. I just wanted to see how things were going."

"Okay, see you tonight," Phil said.

"See you," Dan replied.

* * *

Later that day, Carrie, the owner of Hopeful Books, came into the shop.

"Hey, it's been a while," Dan said when he saw her amongst the racks of flowers.

"Yeah," she agreed. "How have you been?"

"Oh, really good," Dan said.

"Oh yeah? What's been going on?" Carrie asked as she looked over a certain bouquet.

"Well, I've moved in with Phil a few weeks ago," Dan said.

"Oh really? That's awesome. How has that been?"

"Really great. I was kind of worried at first, but it's been great."

"That's great!" Carrie said. She pulled the bouquet of flowers off the rack.

Dan walked with her back to the register to help her pay.

"You know what: don't worry about it," Dan said to her.

"Wait-, are you sure?"

"Yeah, you're good," he said.

"Aw, well thank you," She said with a wide smile. "I really appreciate it."

"It's no problem," Dan said.

"Hey, so I was thinking of throwing a Christmas party," Carrie began as she held onto the bouquet of flowers.

"Oh yeah?" Dan said.

"Yeah, would you and Phil want to come? It would just be at Hopeful Books after I close next Saturday."

"Uhm, maybe," Dan said.

"It'll just be a few people. I'll bring Pete and you guys could bring Tyler. We'll just have a couple drinks and have some sweets or something. What do you say?"

"Let me talk to Phil about it first, okay? We'll get in touch, though," Dan said.

"Okay. Awesome. Well I better get back. I'll talk to you later," Carrie said with a wide smile and a wave.

"Okay, see you," Dan said, mirroring her wide smile.

* * *

At the end of the day, when Dan was done with his reports for the day, he closed up the shop and headed home.

Home.

Home, at one point, meant a run-down house where he lived very alone. Now, his home was one he shared with Phil where they spent their days loving each other, amongst other things. He felt as though he was finally adjusting, considering he no longer had to turn around on the way home after unconsciously heading toward his previous home.

When he reached the house he took his shoes off by the doorway, hung his keys up and went into the kitchen to see what he could make for dinner.

He hadn't been there long when the house phone rang. He crossed the dining room to the phone and saw that it was Phil calling from his cell phone.

He picked up right away. "Hello?"

"Hey, I'm gonna pick up dinner on the way home, okay?"

"Oh, okay. Cool," Dan said. "What're you gonna get?"

"I'm not sure yet. I'll figure it out," Phil said.

After telling each other that they would see the other later, they hung up and Dan went to their bedroom to go online on his laptop. As seven came close to rolling around, he constantly checked the time, even though he knew Phil would arrive at any time.

Eventually he heard Phil entering the house, with the sound of plastic bags accompanying him. Dan closed down his laptop and got up to meet Phil in the kitchen.

He carried bags from a Chinese place they frequented.

"Oh, awesome!" Dan said.

"Yeah," Phil agreed. "I was dying for something good."

"You mean you don't like my cooking," Dan said teasingly.

"No, I love your cooking!" Phil quickly said. "I just-, you know, we haven't had chinese in a while!"

"I'm kidding," Dan said with a laugh. "Let's eat."

* * *

"That was good," Dan said when he cleared his plate. "I was getting hungry, too."

"Yeah, so was I," Phil agreed. They both cleared their places and put the leftovers away in the refrigerator.

"So Carrie came into the shop today," Dan said to Phil as he threw a few pits of trash into the trash bin.

"Oh, yeah. It's been a while since we've seen her. How is she?"

"Good," Dan said. "She's inviting us to a Christmas party at Hopeful Books. I don't think she said when it's gonna be but I said I'd be in touch. Do you want to go?"

"Oh, definitely! That should be fun."

"Yeah, she said we should invite Tyler."

"Okay, good idea," Phil agreed.

* * *

About a half hour later Dan was knelt down on the floor, looking through the entertainment center shelves for something to watch.

"But we've seen that one before," Phil complained when Dan suggested a certain movie.

"Yeah, you're right," Dan said and returned the DVD to its place.

"Oh, screw it," Phil said and Dan looked up in confusion.

Phil continued: "Come up here so I can have you. I've been waiting all day."

Dan blushed but crawled up onto the bed to meet Phil with a kiss.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Phil."

* * *

hi thanks for reading

im open to anything anyone would like to see from this story i have a couple ideas plot-wise that i have to work up to but yeah im taking suggestions and thanks to everyone who gave their input last time i updated this story

pls review and let me know what you think of this chapter :)

okay thank you have an awesome day/week


	24. Chapter 23

whoa 2.5k words the longest chapter ive written in forever im so happy

also thank you superasia8 for brainstorming with me on this chapter

* * *

Phil pulled open the door to Hopeful Books, allowing Dan and Tyler to step inside.

"Wow, it's nice in here," Tyler said as Dan took in the Christmas décor and Christmas-y music playing. As well, Carrie must have had a candle lit, because Dan could detect the scent of pine.

Dan carried a bouquet of poinsettias while Tyler carried a tray of cookies. They walked further into the bookshop and found Carrie and her boyfriend, Pete, in the sitting area sitting across from each other. Each of them had a glass of wine.

"Hey guys," Carrie said as she and Pete both stood to greet them.

The group of five shared greetings and hugs. Carrie had just enough chairs for each of them.

"Oh, these are lovely," Carrie said when Dan offered her the poinsettias. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he replied.

She placed the poinsettias on the top of a shelf off to the side as she said to Tyler, "You can put those right in the middle," referring to the small table in the center of the sitting area.

Tyler did as she suggested and found a place for the tray of cookies. On the small wooden table, there was also cheesecake and a strawberry topping on the side, crackers and cheese, a carton of eggnog, a bottle of rum(for the eggnog), and a couple of bottles of red wine.

"So help yourselves to whatever you'd like," Carrie said, gesturing to the table of snacks and drinks.

Dan chose a chair to settle into.

"Do you want one?" Phil asked him as he poured himself a glass of wine.

"Sure," Dan said.

Phil passed him the first glass and when he poured a second glass he settled into the chair beside Dan's. Dan sipped from his glass.

"So, I'm really glad you guys made it," Carrie said from where she sat.

"Oh, we couldn't miss it," Phil said. "You really thought of everything," he added, referring to the small party.

"Yeah, do you have a candle lit?" Dan chimed in.

"I do, actually," she said and pointed towards a shelf off to the side. There was a large, green candle burning atop one of the shelves.

"It smells great," Phil said.

"Yeah. Pine is good," she agreed.

The group of five continued to chat, drink, and snack as the evening progressed. At one point, Carrie and Tyler got up to dance to a particularly upbeat song. Tyler twirled her and dipped her dramatically, causing them to dissolve into a fit of giggles. Dan began to feel very festive, but perhaps he was just a little bit tipsy. Christmas was still a few weeks away.

Phil struck up a conversation with Pete, so Dan got up to look up and down a few shelves of books. He made a mental note of a few titles to come back to later, when Carrie appeared at his side.

"That one's really good," she said, referring to the book he was sliding back into place.

They chatted over the books he'd been looking at as they drifted back to their circle of friends.

The five of them talked well into the evening. They talked until the snacks were half gone, and until the wine was completely gone.

They eventually were saying their goodbyes.

Dan did the driving to get Tyler home, and drove himself and Phil home, because the both of them had a few more glasses of wine than he did.

"That was a lot of fun. It was really good to see Carrie and Pete," Phil was saying as they walked up to the house at the end of the night.

"Yeah," Dan agreed. "I'm glad we went."

"Me too," Phil said as they entered the house.

Dan couldn't lie to himself, he had been thinking about Phil all night, so he was happy to finally return home. He purposefully changed into his pajamas in front of Phil after Phil collapsed onto their bed. However, when he turned around, Phil was fast asleep.

Frowning, Dan climbed into bed beside him and fell asleep a few minutes later.

* * *

Dan thought it was a one time thing. Perhaps Phil was simply that buzzed on the night of the Christmas party. But a few days later, after they had eaten dinner together, and Dan had showered and changed, he went back into their bedroom to find that Phil was completely passed out. It wasn't even 10 PM yet.

This continued for some time.

Christmas Eve rolled around. Phil went to his parents to see his family and Dan went to his.

Dan returned earlier than Phil, but when Phil did, they sat on the floor of the living room, going through the gifts they had each gotten from their families. They also told stories of the rare gag gift someone had given to another person in their families.

Then they exchanged their own gifts.

Dan's gift to Phil was wrapped, but still easily guessed.

"Hm, I wonder what it is," Phil said dramatically as he turned the package over.

It was a new sketchpad. It wasn't hard to tell. However, when Phil opened it, he still thanked Dan and leaned over to kiss him.

Phil's gift to Dan was less obvious.

"What? No way!" Dan exclaimed when he unwrapped the Christmas-y paper around the gift.

Phil had gotten him the DVD set to an anime he'd gotten into recently. The DVD set included bonus content that Dan had mentioned he really wanted to see.

"Thank you. It's awesome," Dan said. He leaned over and they kissed a second time that night.

Dan attempted to prolong the kiss by leaning in further and reaching up to hold onto Phil, but Phil pulled back.

Dan sighed.

He didn't have the confidence to tell Phil what he wanted. That he wanted to be in Phil's arms again. That he wanted to make love. So he let it slide.

* * *

"Are you going somewhere?" Phil asked Dan on New Year's Eve.

"Huh? No?" Dan said.

Phil looked him over for a moment, without bothering to hide it.

"Oh."

Dan had purposefully put on his favorite jeans that day and when he got home, he put on a nicer sweater. He didn't have any plans with anyone, except to stay up until midnight with Phil. He thought that maybe Phil would finally give in to his hints and, admittedly pitiful, attempts at seduction.

So they stayed up watching an anime from the DVD set Phil had gotten him. Phil watched the clock, occasionally saying things like, "Just an hour more!"

Phil grew quiet as time went on, though. And when the clock struck twelve, Dan looked from the television to Phil, to find that he had fallen asleep.

Dan smiled, looking at his peaceful form. He couldn't be angry with him, no matter how frustrated he was becoming with Phil's avoidance, whether it was intentional or not. So Dan changed quietly into his pajamas and then shut off the television and the lights so that he could get some sleep as well.

* * *

The next morning Dan awoke to his alarm clock. He instantly regretted staying up until midnight, as it was 6:15 AM, but he forced himself out of bed. Phil stirred but remained asleep. Luckily for him, Dan thought, he didn't have to wake up so early.

Dan quietly dressed and to his amazement, Phil remained asleep the entire time he got ready for work. At 6:45 Dan was leaving the house and locking it behind him.

The morning started out slow, so he had time to chat with Louise. As well, Carrie came into the shop close to lunch time and they chatted for a few minutes as well.

She mentioned a book that was being made into a film. "Would you want to go see it with me? I think its out at the end of the week. We could go on Friday."

"You know what, that sounds awesome," Dan said.

"Yeah, we can meet up at the theater. I'll look up show times and give you a call that day. How does that sound?"

"Sounds perfect," Dan said with a grin.

"Awesome. I'm so happy you want to go," Carrie said excitedly. "I better get back, though. I'll talk to you later."

"Talk to you later," Dan said before Carrie left the flower shop.

"Carrie's so nice," he remarked to Louise.

"Yeah, she is," Louise agreed.

* * *

That night at home, Dan told Phil of his plans with Carrie.

When Phil said, "Oh, okay," with his eyes downcast, Dan said, "You could come if you want. I'm sure Carrie won't mind."

"No. It's fine," Phil said. After the exchange, he perked up, but didn't speak more on the subject.

So on Friday, when Dan returned to their home, he got ready to meet Carrie at the theater. The phone rang while he held a lock of hair between the flat plates of his flat iron. He quickly put the instrument aside and went into the bedroom to answer the phone.

"Hello?" Dan said.

"Hey," Carrie's voice said.

"Oh, hey," Dan said. "I was just getting ready."

"Cool," Carrie said and listed off the show times. They decided on the soonest show time and agreed to meet just inside the theater near the concession stands.

"Okay. Aw, man, I'm excited!" Carrie said. "I haven't been to a movie in a while."

"Me neither. Alright, I'll see you in a little bit," Dan hung up the phone and then went back into the restroom to finish fixing his hair.

Ten minutes later he was putting his wallet into his pocket and locking up the house with his ring of keys. He arrived at the theater fifteen minutes later, found a parking space, and got in line to buy his ticket. After he bought his ticket he went into the building.

Carrie was right where she said she'd be.

"Hey," she waved cheerfully to him.

"Hey," he replied just as excitedly.

"I'm excited," she said again.

"Me too," Dan agreed. "Do you wanna get popcorn or anything?"

"I just want some soda, I think," she said.

They got in line to purchase two sodas and then found their theater.

Luckily, they arrived early enough that they found a good seat in the middle of the theater and had time to chat. They also talked through the previews.

"I wanna see that one," Carrie remarked at the end of a certain trailer.

"Yeah, it's gonna be good," he agreed.

The movie began and they settled in to watch.

When the movie ended the chatted as Dan walked Carrie to her car. When they reached her car, he said: "I better get home. Phil wasn't home when I left, but he probably is now and I'd hate to leave him by himself."

"You told him he could come if he wanted, right?"

"Yeah, but he said no, so," Dan said with a shrug.

"Ah, okay," Carrie said. "Okay, well I'll talk to you later."

They hugged and waved goodbye, and Dan walked away to find his car.

He reached home about twenty minutes later and found that Phil was indeed home already. When he walked up to the house, he found the door unlocked and inside he found Phil in the kitchen.

Phil was leaning against the counter, looking at the directions for a boxed dinner. He didn't acknowledge Dan until Dan said, "Hey."

"Hey," Phil glanced up and then turned to the oven to begin preheating it.

"I think I want one of those," Dan said and went to the freezer to take out a second boxed dinner.

"You didn't eat with Carrie?" Phil asked.

"No, we just had soda at the theater."

"Ah."

Dan went to the bedroom where he discarded his keys and wallet and took off his shoes before going into the bathroom. When he returned to the kitchen Phil was putting both boxed dinners into the oven.

Phil went into the living room where Dan assumed he was waiting for the food to get done, while Dan went back into the bedroom where he logged onto his laptop.

When their food was ready, they ate quietly at the table. However, it wasn't like the peaceful, companionable silences they normally had.

Phil eventually asked, "How was the movie?"

"Oh, it was great. I wish you had decided to come. Maybe next time though."

"Yeah, maybe," Phil agreed.

They didn't speak anymore while they ate.

They hardly spoke at all the entire night.

* * *

The next morning, Dan's alarm went off. He immediately shut it off. He looked over at Phil, who stirred, but didn't appear to be awake. He got up and started a pot of coffee. While it brewed he dressed and fixed his hair. He also quickly made himself egg and toast. Phil emerged from the hall way as Dan ate and poured himself coffee as well.

"Good morning," Dan said to him.

"Morning," Phil replied. Once he poured in cream and stirred it up, he disappeared down the hall with his mug of coffee.

When Dan was done with his breakfast he rinsed his dishes and put them into the dishwasher. He put on his work shoes by the door, grabbed his keys and left the house.

He had another slow morning, so he and Louise chatted freely as they took care of their work duties.

"You wanna go get a sandwich with me?" Louise asked him around lunch time.

Dan looked at the clock on his computer, and then shrugged and said, "Sure."

But when he stood and patted his pockets he discovered that he didn't have his wallet with him. He looked around the office as well, in case he had taken it out of his pocket and had forgotten.

"What?" Louise asked him.

"I think I left my wallet at home."

"I'll pay for yours today."

"No, it's okay," Dan said, continuing to look around the office and pat his pockets as if by sheer will he could make his wallet materialize there.

"Just go ahead," Dan said. "I'll go get my wallet. It's fine."

"Are you sure?" Louise asked him.

"Yeah, totally," Dan said. "I'll be back in just a little bit. Just make sure to lock up when you go," Dan said and gave her the ring of keys to the shop.

"Okay," Louise said.

Dan headed out of the shop, his keys jingling by his side. He climbed into his car after unlocking it and headed home.

When he arrived he found that Phil's truck was still there. Odd, he thought. But maybe he didn't open up until later on Saturdays, he reasoned.

He walked up to the house, recalling that the night before he had left his wallet in the bedroom. When he walked inside he didn't find Phil in the living room, or in the kitchen, but behind the closed door of the bedroom, sitting at the computer desk with his pants around his ankles.

* * *

i bet everyones like OMG WHAT

lol

superasia8 wanted some angst and this was the best i could come up with dnt worry it will make more sense in the next chapter which ive alrdy started so it should be up soon in at least a few days or something

so thanks for reading and let me know what you think


	25. Chapter 24

im legit so nervous for ppl to read this one, even more nervous than the last one omg but superasia8 said it was good so im gonna post it

* * *

Shock ran through Dan. The car keys he held in his hand fell to the floor as Phil whirled about in the chair to look at Dan with wide eyes.

"Dan?!" He shot up from the desk and pulled up his pajama pants.

"Phil," Dan choked out. He reached down to get the keys he had dropped.

"I-, uh, I'm sorry," Phil said. Dan could see him growing red in the face very quickly at being caught in this compromising position.

"Is this why you haven't wanted sex?!" Dan asked, surprised by his own demanding tone.

"I'm sorry," seemed to be the only thing Phil could say. He also seemed to be frozen to the spot.

Dan spotted his wallet on the dresser they shared. He walked briskly around the bed, passed Phil, and to the dresser to get his wallet. He couldn't ignore the images that were on Phil's computer screen as he did this. It was his turn to blush, because he couldn't deny that what Phil had been watching was _hot._

"I just forgot my wallet. I have to go. But we're gonna talk about this," Dan said, with a gesture of finality. "Later," he added.

He left the house.

His stomach was sick with a mixture of emotions. He had lost his appetite.

He and Phil had never talked about porn, or about masturbation. He rarely did it himself. He hadn't done it since before he and Phil first had sex. He hadn't felt the need to. Phil satisfied him completely. Which begged the question: was Phil unsatisfied in their sex life?

And if so, was Dan doing something wrong? Was there something he could do to satisfy Phil further?

As Dan drove back to the flower shop, he became filled with insecurities. He hardly had the confidence to take part in anything other than vanilla sex. He just barely had the confidence to have sex with Phil at all. There was no way he could comfortably do some of the things he had seen in various porn videos. Let alone what he had seen in the video Phil had been watching.

When he arrived at the flower shop, he shook the thoughts from his head and focused on work.

Louise returned from lunch not long after he did.

"So you're not gonna go eat?" She asked him.

"Nah. I'm fine," he replied, shaking his head with a frown. He avoided meeting her eye, knowing that she'd ask if something was wrong if he did.

If it were him, he wouldn't want just anyone to know what he'd been doing. So he kept it to himself.

* * *

When he returned to the house at the end of the day he began cooking dinner and when it was nearly done he heard Phil coming through the front door.

Dan walked over to the entrance to the dining area and looked down the hall to the front door.

Phil looked up at him, adjusted his glasses and continued to slip his shoes off.

"Hey," he said to Dan.

"Hey," Dan replied. "Food's about done."

"Cool. Thank you," Phil said.

Dan returned to the kitchen to check the food and turn off the stove.

"You, er, wanted to talk about earlier?" Phil asked him when he entered the kitchen.

"Let's eat first," Dan said.

"Okay," Phil agreed.

While they ate Dan asked Phil about his day. Phil explained that it was slow, aside from the two appointments he had.

"What about you?"

"It was okay," Dan said.

Dan cleared his plate before Phil had and pushed it away from him. Phil did the same soon after.

"So," Dan said.

"Erm," Phil grew red in the face. "I'm honestly really embarrassed."

"Well," Dan began. "I'm not judging you. I just don't understand."

He continued and asked outright, "It's not a bad thing to have less sex. But if you're watching porn when I'm more than willing to-, I just don't get it. Am I-, am I not enough?"

"No," Phil breathed out. He seemed to be relieved that Dan wasn't angry with him. "No, of course not."

Phil continued and said, "I love to make love with you."

"So do I. But?" Dan prompted him.

"But, that's kind of all we do when we..."

"Oh," Dan said. "I see. You're bored."

"Yeah-, well, no, well-," Phil tripped over his words and Dan couldn't help but laugh.

"What do you want that you're not getting?" Dan asked, wanting to get to the root of the problem.

"I want to fuck you," Phil said and continued on to describe the ways in which he wanted to do this.

Dan's heart beat rose with each word Phil uttered until he was blushing red, with images of him and Phil flashing in his mind. However, what surprised Dan, was not what Phil said, but that he became so aroused.

"Was that too much?" Phil asked.

He gulped before responding. "It was a lot," he said. "But no."

"So you're," Phil began as he stood up from the table, "Not opposed?"

Dan cleared his throat, still red hot in the face, and said, "Er, no," as he looked up at Phil.

Phil's movements suddenly took on a predatory language. He reached down to tilt Dan's head up and kiss him.

 _Oh god,_ Dan thought. _We're doing this now?_ However hesitant his thoughts were, though, Dan was eager because it had been a long time since he and Phil had been together.

His heart pounded against his chest and Phil continued to kiss him. A dominate, controlling kiss. Phil usually let them share the power in any of their activities, but judging by this kiss, Phil wanted control.

And Dan let him have it.

* * *

They had never left the dining room.

Despite Phil's intensity that evening, he still made sure that Dan was satisfied. He made sure they finished together.

"Are you okay, baby?" Phil asked him from where he was above him on the dining room table.

"Yeah," Dan said as his breathing returned to normal. However, his heart fluttered in response to Phil calling him, "babe," for the second time.

He was wrapped tightly around Phil. He said, "I can't believe we just had sex on the dining room table."

Phil laughed in response.

They kissed. As they had many times that night.

"I love you," they said to each other.

Phil never let Dan doubt that, despite his roughness that evening.

They got up from the table after their afterglow faded and re-dressed partway, enough to clean up from dinner and then retreat to the bedroom. They made love a second time that night, or as Phil may have called it, 'fucked.'

Phil was still holding back, Dan could tell, but he didn't care. As long as Phil was happy.

He had missed this, with Phil. He voiced that to Phil, who agreed, as they lay in bed that night.

"I'm sorry for holding out on you for so long," Phil said. "I didn't want to hurt you or make you uncomfortable with anything."

"No, you haven't," Dan reassured him. "I love it," Dan admitted. "And I trust you. I know you would never hurt me on purpose."

"No, I wouldn't," Phil confirmed.

* * *

After their sexual breakthrough, they became even more open about their sex life. Dan learned of Phil's experiences, that he was much more experienced than Dan originally thought.

"Does that make you uncomfortable?" Phil asked when he spoke of the amount of partners he had before Dan. "That I've been with other people?"

"No. I mean, I'm a little jealous, but… you're with me now and that's what matters," Dan reasoned.

"I've never made love with anyone the way I do with you though. Even though I've fucked others," Phil promised Dan.

The night they had talked about these things Phil was particularly tender as they made love. He told Dan he loved him more times than Dan could count while Dan's heart swelled and his body moved with Phil's.

They were together more often than they'd ever been before they had grown distant. They made love in all the rooms of the house, not just the dining room. Sometimes Phil was rough, sometimes he was gentle. But he always took care of Dan. Which Dan appreciated.

"We're a couple of sex fiends," Dan said, more to himself, one night after they made love. But he supposed after a whole month of being without each other, they would take every opportunity they had to be together.

Phil laughed in agreement with Dan.

Dan loved to make love with Phil, but he also loved video games, watching movies together, eating breakfast together, and talking. The blazing fire that was their sex life eventually shrunk back down to the slow, warm burn it was before it had nearly gone out completely.

* * *

im so nervous so pls let me know what you think i would rlly appreciate it also if anyone would like an nsfw version of this chapter, like i did for chapter fourteen, let me know and ill probs do it

thanks for reading

have an awesome day/week


	26. Chapter 25

i know its been forever im sorry but i knew at some point id eventually write more for this story

i mean it might be just as long before i write another chapter of this but still

let me know what you think in a review

* * *

"It's been about a year since we met," Dan said to Phil one morning in February. "Can you believe it?"

"No," Phil said. "It's gone by fast."

"This has been the greatest year of my life, Phil," Dan said to him as they ate breakfast together.

"This is going to be really eloquent," Phil said, "But same."

Dan laughed and as they cleaned up their mess from breakfast they paused to kiss.

Valentine's day was approaching as well. Dan wasn't sure what he would do. The obvious thing would be to get Phil a bouquet of roses. But he wanted to do something special.

Dan had to be at the shop that day, but could spend the entire evening focusing on Phil. He normally cooked dinner, so he decided he would go the extra mile. So on the day just before Valentines, Dan checked the linen closet for a table cloth and made a quick trip to the supermarket. There, he found candleholders and tall candles to set up the table with.

When he brought them back to the house, he put them into the linen closet. He kept them in the plastic bag as a way to disguise them.

At the store, he also bought things for dinner. He kept those in their plastic bag as well.

That night that Dan organized everything, as he and Phil settled in for sleep, he suddenly worried that Phil may have planned something further ahead of time. In the event that should happen, Dan supposed he could simply save the candles for another occasion.

* * *

So, the following day when Dan returned home from work, he set to work. He decided to cook sirloin steak for dinner along with sautéed vegetables and bread rolls as sides.

He preheated the oven for the dinner rolls then began to cut up the vegetables first, so that he could begin sauteeing them as he began cooking the steak. He quickly cut up the vegetables as nerves set in.

Why was he so nervous? His hands shook slightly as he cut into a zucchini. He took a deep breath, then continued.

When he was done with the vegetables he threw them into a pan with olive oil and few seasonings such as garlic salt and ginger. As well, he put the steaks onto the plug-in griddle. He added a few seasonings to those as well. As everything was slowly cooking he set to work on the dining room table. He cleared everything off of it, which was not much, and then went to retrieve the candles and table cloth.

He threw the table cloth over the table and then placed the candle holders and candles in the middle of the table. He decided to wait to light them. He returned to the kitchen where he stirred up the vegetables, satisfied with how they were softening. The steak needed more time before it needed to be flipped.

He realized he was unaware of how Phil liked his steaks, and hoped that medium was okay.

He nervously stirred and watched over everything. He checked the time. Phil would be arriving soon. He made sure he had a kitchen lighter and checked the 'everything' drawer. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found one there. He put it out on the counter as he would use it as soon as Phil walked in.

He flipped the steaks a few moments later.

Not long after that, Dan heard the door to the house open and the sound of plastic bags. So Dan immediately went to light the candles.

"It smells good in here," Phil called out.

Dan lit the first candle. Phil walked into the dining/kitchen area as he lit the second candle.

"What's all this?" Phil asked, his mouth open slightly in surprise.

"Is it too much? I can get rid of the candles," Dan said quickly.

"No, Dan, it's beautiful. But why? You didn't have to do all that."

"Honestly, Phil. I always cook. The only way I could've made it more special was with candles and a table cloth."

"I know but still," Phil said. He glanced down at the bags he carried. "And all I got was your favorite ice cream and a movie."

"Well, even better. We have dinner and dessert now!" Dan said. He approached Phil to take the bags from him, lingering as their hands brushed.

He put the movie on the table and went to the freezer to the put the ice cream away. "Everything should be done in just a few minutes," Dan said as he shut the freezer and returned to the stove.

To his surprise, Phil walked up behind him and wound his arms around him.

Dan sighed and put his arms over Phil's.

"I love you, Dan," Phil said softly. He breathed in Dan's scent. Which was almost always of flowers and soil, but this time it was mingled with the smell of dinner.

"I love you, too," Dan replied.

Phil lingered there for another moment, and then released Dan. He watched as Dan cut into a piece of steak to check their progress. They were about medium, so he turned off the griddle. The timing for the rolls was at about three minutes.

"You can go sit or something. You know, relax," Dan suggested. "The rolls have a couple more minutes but everything is just about done."

"Uhm, okay," Phil said. He did as Dan suggested.

Dan made two plates each with a sirloin steak and a scoop of vegetables. While waiting for the rolls to finish cooking he put silverware on the table, as well as a dish of butter.

Phil watched him, in awe.

After another moment or two the timer dinged for the rolls, so Dan got an oven glove and brought them out. He put one on each plate and then brought the plates to the table. He sat down across from Phil.

"This all looks amazing, Dan," Phil said.

"Well, I'm glad."

Phil continued to sit quietly for a moment. He was just smiling softly. When Dan looked at him questioningly, he reached for his silverware and began cutting into his steak.

When he bit into his steak, he said, "Oh, this is so good!"

Dan smiled.

They mostly ate quietly, as they were both hungry after busy days. But about halfway through the meal, Phil began telling a story of a couple who had gone into his shop to get matching tattoos as it was valentine's day. Dan shared his own stories. Most of which were that people were in a massive rush to get a bouquet for someone.

They spent a long while talking and finishing their meal. Even after they were done eating they continued to sit at the table for a few long minutes.

"Well," Phil eventually said and stood up. He took his plate to the sink, quickly followed by Dan and they both worked on tidying up the kitchen.

As Dan put away the last container of left-overs, he said to Phil, "Why don't you put that movie on. I'll finish up in here."

"Okay," Phil agreed with a small smile. He took the movie from the counter and exited the kitchen.

Dan washed up the pots and pans he used from dinner as he listened to the TV coming on in the other room. He paused in the middle of washing the dishes to put a bag of popcorn in the microwave. When the popcorn was done popping, he had put the last pan in the drying rack. He got a bowl out for the popcorn and brought that with him to the living room. He shut the kitchen light off as he went.

He joined Phil on the couch who said, "Ooh, I thought I smelt popcorn."

"Well, you thought correctly," Dan said as he shook up the bag to spread the butter.

The movie had reached the main menu, so Phil hit play and settled into the couch to watch while Dan poured the popcorn into the bowl.

They both idly grazed on the popcorn as they got into the movie. Eventually, when the bowl became empty, Dan put it aside.

Phil snuggled up slightly to Dan, and rested his head on Dan's shoulder. Dan glanced over for a moment, then smiled and in turn, rested his cheek on the top of Phil's head. They watched the rest of the movie just like that.

When the credits began to roll Dan said quietly, "You picked a really good movie."

"I know right," Phil agreed just as quietly.

"Did you want ice cream?" Dan asked as he got up from the couch to turn off the TV.

"I kind of had something else on my mind, to be honest," Phil replied, rising from the couch as well.

Dan didn't know how to respond. He gulped and then reached over to turn off the DVD player as well. When he turned back Phil had come closer.

In preparation for Valentine's Day, Dan had a lot to do at the shop each day. He had been very busy for a few weeks, and therefore didn't have the energy to spend more time with Phil at home. He was slightly nervous. Dan was unconsciously holding his breath as Phil reached up and put his hands on Dan's shoulders.

Phil leaned in, eyes open, gauging Dan's reactions. Dan's heart thudded loudly in his chest. He blinked and then reciprocated by leaning in as well. So Phil leaned away, teasing him.

Phil laughed softly at the look that crossed Dan's face. So Dan wound his arms around Phil and, throwing all caution to the wind, brought his lips to Phil's.

Phil kissed back just as wholeheartedly and smiled into it.

It didn't take long for Dan's initial nerves to pass. After a few long moments, Dan pulled away, looked at Phil, smiled, then grabbed him by the hand to lead him to the bedroom.

Later that night, as Phil caught his breath, he placed open-mouthed kisses on Dan's shoulder and neck.

Dan rolled over, because he was sure if Phil continued that he'd be ready for round two and he simply did not have the energy for that. So, Phil cuddled up to Dan, who brought the blanket around them.

They both slowly sobered up from their activities.

After a few long minutes Phil lifted his head, then rested his chin on his hands to look at Dan. Dan glanced back at him and tried not to smile, but within moments he was grinning widely.

Phil smiled back and then laid his head back down. He quietly said, "I love you."

"I love you too," Dan replied just as softly.

"Before I met you," Phil began. "I felt kind of empty. Like I was just existing, but now I feel like I'm actually living. Like I've got something to live for."

"I know exactly how you feel," Dan said in agreement. He began running his fingers across Phil's back and felt him sigh deeply in response.

After a few more long minutes Dan decided to reach over and shut off the bedside lamp. They spooned and then eventually rolled over to sleep, but remained touching.

* * *

alright so pls review and everything it makes me happy


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